The Return of the Betrayed Guardian
by Knight of Kanto
Summary: Several years ago Ash was betrayed by those he trusted, now with a tournament coming up he returns as Takeo Hayashi to prove himself to the world.
1. A past revealed, A future decided

This is my first fanfic so any reviews or advice would be appreciated, I hope you enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

A man stands at the peak of the legendary Mount Silver gazing off into the distance, a Meowth sat on his shoulder and a Lucario stood to his right. The man is about 20 years old, stood a little over 6 foot and had a lean build. His main features were his messy raven black hair and his brown eyes which seemed to have a hint of blue. Behind him 12 Pokémon were battling each other the sounds of battle echoed through the mountains. The Meowth noticed the faraway look in his friends eyes.

"Hey boss are ya thinking about dat day again?"

"Yes unfortunately, I remember it as if it was yesterday"

* * *

Flashback (6 years ago)

_Ash is seen walking home after his defeat to Tobias in the sinnoh league and although he was disappointed to lose he took pride in the fact that he took down 2 legendary Pokémon._

_He opened the door and saw almost all of his past travelling companions. Ash looked at the serious looks on his friends faces and wondered what was wrong._

_"Hey guys what's up?"_

_"Ash sit down we need to talk to you about something now" Ash was very confused he'd never heard Brock use such a cold tone._

_"Okay Brock, so what do you wanna talk about?_

_Everyone looked at each other unsure how to say it, then Misty yelled out "Ash you suck at training Pokémon we all think you should give up your stupid dream cos it's never gonna happen!"_

_Ash was in shock "y-y-you're joking right?"_

_Max then spoke up "No Ash we are not, we all agreed on this, we think you're a weak and pathetic excuse of a trainer"_

_Ash looked around at the faces of his so called friends and saw them all nod their heads in agreement, what made it worse was that Pikachu was sat there agreeing with them. It was all to much for Ash and he stormed out the door with tears in his eyes, and was confronted by all his Pokémon, then Charizard walked forward giving Ash his poke ball, the other's all glaring at him. His former friends then walked outside smug looks on their faces._

_"See Ash even your own pokemon think you're pathetic" mocked Gary_

_Ash jumped onto Charizard's back telling him to take him to Vermillion City. As Charizard took off Ash yelled out "One day i'll be back and when that day comes you will be sorry for what you've done" and then Ash was gone._

_End Flashback_

* * *

Suddenly a piercing screech rang out, Ash looked in the direction it came from and saw a Pidgeot flying towards him. The Lucario formed an Aura Sphere in his palm just in case the Pidgeot proved to be a threat. The Flying type landed in front of the Ash and used it's wing to point at the scrap of paper attached to it's leg, Ash took it and began reading it in his head. The Pidgeot then took off, Lucario dissolved the Aura Sphere and looked at his master.

'Master what does the letter say?'

"Lucario how many times have I told you not to call me Master"

'I believe the total is now 217'

Ash chuckled then began reading the message.

_Dear Takeo,_

_There is a tournament coming up that is held every 10 years called the Championship of Legends it is held to decide the best trainer in the world and I believe you are more than capable of winning. Your invitation has been attached to this letter, if you want to join hand the invitation to the Nurse Joy at the Indigo Plateau Pokémon centre, you have 1 week._

_Scott_

_P.S Glad your still alive Ash and I hope to see you in the near future._

'So Master will you join?'

Lucario then saw a glint in his master's eye, one that hadn't been seen since they had taken down Team Rocket 3 years ago.

"Yes my friend we will join this tournament and we will win"

Ash heard his Pokémon approaching him it seems they had been listening the whole time, Lucario and Meowth had joined them. He looked at them with a genuine smile on his face, only 4 of the Pokémon he had caught before his friends and Pokémon betrayed him all those years ago stood by his side they are:

Charizard who is usually mistaken to be a dragon due to it's appearance. It has a tail with a fire burning at the tip. It has extremely sharp claws at the end of three, digits, a long neck, and two horns protruding from the back of its head. The front of its two wings is teal, while the back is orange like most of its body. This was the only witness of the betrayal.

Blastoise is a blue tortoise Pokémon with a tough brown shell and two powerful water cannons, that jut out of the top sides of its shell. The cannons can be withdrawn inside the shell, or rotated to point backwards. Blastoise's head sports triangular ears and his arms are thick and have three claws on the hands. It also has a small blue tail. This was the Leader of the Squirtle squad who Ash reunited with days after the betrayal.

Primeape has a round body covered in whitish, messy fur. It's ears are triangular with pink insides, its arms and legs are colored brown, it also has metal shackles on its wrists and ankles; suggesting it trains with weights and it's forepaws seem to resemble boxing gloves. When Ash went to find Squirtle the P1 Grand Prix was on tour and was in the city he found out Primeape was having his final match, after he won, he retired an undefeated champion and decided he wanted to go with Ash.

And the last of his original pokemon to stay by his side was Butterfree, he only has four legs, which are a pale blue color. It has a nose-like structure, which is a similar color. The coloration of a Butterfree's body is a darker purple-blue. It has large veined wings, which are white with black markings. It has large compound eyes that tend to be a reddish color and it has 2 pairs of wings which are covered in scales. Butterfree had left his mate, but has not revealed why, he had been randomly flying through the regions until he came across Ash.

He looked at the Pokémon he had captured since that day they were:

Meowth, he Jesse and James had found Ash when he went to find Squirtle, they told him that they had quit Team Rocket as they had begun to kill innocent people which they would not be a part of. Ash then told them what had transpired between him and his friends. The former members of Team Rocket were stunned that they would do that to him. He told them he had every intention of taking down Team Rocket as soon as he was ready, Meowth then asked Ash to train him so he could be strong enough to defeat Giovanni's Persian when the time came. Ash agreed and Meowth soon became his most trusted ally.

Lucario was actually the Riolu that Ash had bonded with in Sinnoh, and he had been searching for Ash for some time. They began training together to master their Aura abilities, and regularly spar to keep their skills sharp. Lucario is a bipedal, jackal-like Pokémon, with fur that is black and blue. It has a short, round spike on the back of each forepaw, in addition to a third on its chest. It possesses cream-colored fur on its torso, and blue fur on its thighs. Lucario stands on its toes rather than on its entire foot. It has developed four small black appendages on its head, which rise when Lucario reads or manipulates aura.

Tyranitar is a large dinosaur-like Pokémon. The couple of fangs in the upper and lower jaws, and the fingers and toes culminating in claws, contribute to the menacing appearance of this Pokémon. This Pokémon's most prominent body feature is the green, armor-like hide that covers its body. Despite its tough appearance, this hide is flexible enough to allow movement. Many spikes protrude from the back of its head, neck, shoulders and the tip of the tail. The armor also presents a couple of holes at the knees and the back, and four holes at the chest. There are also two blue rhombus-shaped pieces of armor that cover the creature's belly and back.

Gardevoir has long, slender, white legs underneath the gown. Her arms are green; its arms are connected to the hand with no defined wrist. Gardevoir has long, slender fingers that are connected to the arms directly, appearing more glove-like. It has red horns on its chest and its back. Gardevoir also has spikes to the side of its face that has a close resemblance to a masquerade mask and has a band of green extending on its chest to the centermost horn and then connecting to the sleeve-like arms, almost appearing to resemble a torso or top-like part to a dress.

Luxray's appearance is based on that of a fully grown lion. It has three gold-colored rings on the backs of its legs and has eyes with golden pupils and irises and red scleras. Luxray has a blue body partly covered with a spiky black mane from its head to its front legs and parts of its back legs. It has a long, thin black tail with a gold four-pointed star shape on the tip.

Flygon is a large insect-like dragon Pokémon resembling a dragonfly, primarily light green. Flygon has a pair of large green rhombus-shaped wings with a red trim, toeless hind legs and skinny arms with three-clawed hands. Flygon's tail has several dark green stripes and three small green rhombus shapes with red trims at the end. Flygon has red-lensed "goggles" covering its eyes and a pair of green antennae which point back.

Glaceon is a fox-like creature covered in light-blue fur. Glaceon's inner ears, two spots on its back, tail end and cap-endings are all rhombus-shaped and darker blue, in contrast to the soft cyan main body color. Glaceon also has a similar shape on its back. Glaceon's feet are also a dark blue color, giving it the impression of wearing boots.

Absol is a quadrupedal Pokémon. Its gray body is covered in white fur, with a ruff around its neck and chest, and a tuft on the top of its head adorned with a single blue-black oval. It has a cat-like face, a scythe-like tail and a sickle-shaped growth on the side of its head. Its broad feet are equipped with three claws each, and spikes protrude from the heels of its hind legs and the elbows of its anterior legs.

Scizor has a thick, red metallic exoskeleton. Scizor now has crab-like claws, with yellow-and-black patterns on them. Scizor has two-toed feet with one clawed toe in front and the other in the back. Scizor has a pair of two-lobed wings, similar to that of a butterfly. Aside from its primarily red coloration, Scizor has black on its neck, chest, and abdomen, and yellow eyes.

Milotic's appearance is similar to that of a sea serpent it's body is mostly cream in coloration, with red eyes and three black dots down its neck. The top of its head is long, with a point at the end, and long, thin red 'eyebrows' extending from above its eyes and thicker, also red-colored hair-like fins draping from the sides of the head. Its lower tail is covered looks like a fan and has blue and pink scales, with striations of black, and four large scales, blue with red spots in the middle.

"Everyone we have trained long and hard and now the time has come for us to prove ourselves to the world and show those traitors who the pathetic weaklings really are. We will leave immediately and we will crush all who stand in our way"

They all roared in approval, and some fired attacks into the air. Ash then rummaged through his backpack pulling out his poke balls and returned everyone except Charizard and Meowth, he then jumped onto Charizard's back and with Meowth on his shoulder, Charizard fired a flamethrower into the air then took off, flying off into the distance at an amazing speed.


	2. The fall of Giovanni

Wow wasn't expecting such a great response, thanks guys. Any reviews and advice is welcome. Here's chapter 2 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon

* * *

Ash managed to get to the Indigo Plateau in no time at all due to the speed Charizard was flying at, when the Plateau came into sight Ash instructed Charizard to land in the wooded area to the south, he looked around and decided this would be an excellent training area, as it was deep in the woods and had a natural spring for his water types to relax in.

He made sure his hood was up and covering his face as the last thing he wanted was for people to see who he was. Charizard was returned to his ball and Ash began walking towards the Pokémon centre.

"Meowth remember you can't talk in public or people will get suspicious especially if the traitors hear you"

"Don't worry boss I know, anyway we can talk using Aura if we need to"

They continued onto the Pokémon centre, when they entered Ash scanned the room looking for anyone he knew then he saw one of the only people in the world who knew the real identity of Takeo Hayashi, Scott. The large man, still wearing his customary sunglasses and Hawaiian shirt turned around when he heard the doors open, and knew only one man who wore a hooded cloak and carried a Meowth on his shoulder. He excused himself from the conversation he was having with Brandon and walked up to Ash.

"Hello Takeo, it's been too long, I'm glad you decided to compete"

"Well I couldn't turn down an opportunity on this grand occasion to prove those traitors wrong"

Scott nodded his head in agreement.

"Anyway I'd better go sign up for the tournament"

"Okay Takeo but I'd better come with you if you wanna keep you identity secret"

Scott walked to the desk with Ash "Hello Nurse Joy this man would like to register for the tournament, you won't be needing to see his pokedex, his name is Takeo Hayashi" Ash breathed a sigh of relief knowing that his identity would be kept safe.

Several people in the Pokémon centre were stunned that Scott would do this for someone that nobody had heard of, the Frontier Brains were wondering just who this guy is, determined to find out they walked towards the mysterious man.

"Okay Mr Hayashi you are now registered, here is your schedule for the first round"

"Thanks Nurse Joy" He then whispered to Scott "And thank you for doing that, the last thing I wanted was for my identity to be revealed"

"Don't worry about it, after everything you've done for the world and everything you've been through I think you're owed the odd favour"

This earned a chuckle from Ash.

"So Scott, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?"

Ash and Scott turned to see 6 Frontier Brains with a 'you will tell us or else' look on their faces.

"Of course this is Takeo Hayashi a very good friend of mine who's been travelling around for the last few years helping the Pokémon Rangers"

The 6 Brains eyes widened once hearing this as the Rangers were a very well respected organisation.

"And Takeo these are; Factory Head Noland, Arena Tycoon Greta, Dome Ace Tucker, Pike Queen Lucy, Palace Maven Spenser and Pyramid King Brandon they are my Frontier Brains."

Ash then realised something, "Wait a minute Scott I thought there was 7 Frontier Brains, where is Anabel the Salon Maiden?"

At the mention of her name all their shoulders slumped and the smiles left their faces. Ash was bemused.

"Hey did I say something wrong?"

Brandon spoke up "She's in her hotel room, she has not been the same the past 6 six years, ever since Ash Ketchum's disapperance she fell into a deep depression and no one has been able to pull her out of it"

Ash didn't know he had been that important to her, and it saddened him that he had caused pain to the one he had come to love.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Greta begin talking " I don't suppose you've seen him have you Takeo." Ash looked at Scott, unsure of what to say.

"Yes, I met him a couple of years ago while I was training on Mount Coronet, we had a battle that I barely managed to win, hopefully he will be here, but I haven't heard from him since that day. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

Ash didn't like lying especially to those he had a great deal of respect for, but he had to, at least for now.

"That's okay Takeo, I guess we should get back to our hotel rooms now, it's getting late" Brandon said, the other Brains agreeing some yawning to prove his point.

"You guys go ahead I've got to show Takeo to his hotel"

"Okay Scott see you later"

Ash and Scott watched the Brains leave, then Scott turned to Ash.

"Come on we can talk on the way to your hotel" Ash nodded and they walked outside going in the opposite direction to Brandon and the others.

"Scott, can you please tell me everything that's happened with Anabel since I left"

"Okay Takeo, but you have to tell me everything that happened 3 years ago with Team Rocket first because I know you had something to do with it, and I certainly don't believe the bullshit the media came out with"

"Deal"

* * *

Flashback (3 years ago)

_Ash had scoured the 4 regions for the past year gathering all the intel he could on Team Rocket's hideout and the leader Giovanni, and now he was finally ready to eliminate the criminal organisation._

_Ash stood outside the headquarters watching the grunts patrolling the building, he noticed one who would be out of sight when he got to an alcove in the building. Ash moved into position and knocked out the guard stealing his uniform._

_"Now Meowth do you remember the plan"_

_"Yer boss, you say dat you captured me and wanna take me to Giovanni so I can get a traitors punishment"_

_"Ok let's do this" Ash walked up to the main gate Meowth trailing behind with his arms tied behind his back._

_"Halt who are you and what is your business" the guard said in what he hoped was an intimidating voice._

_"I have captured that treacherous Meowth who quit Team Rocket I wish to take him to Giovanni so he can dispose of him, I think he would be displeased if you refused to allow me entrance" The guard heard something through his ear piece, then immediately let the pair through, "go down the main corridor and take the elevator to the top floor"_

_"Man these guys are stupid, I can't believe they just let us through" Ash removed the binds on Meowths arms and they kept to the shadows, Ash then began placing several explosives at structural weak points of the building._

_"That should be enough to take this building down, now let's go take down Giovanni and remove the threat of Team Rocket"_

_Ash and Meowth took the elevator to the top. When the doors opened they revealed a huge room that only had a desk with a computer on it and Man sat stroking his Persian._

_"So Ketchum you finally got here, took you long enough, you were let into the building almost an hour ago. Did you really think it would be that easy? You only got into this building because I wanted to crush you myself" Giovanni then began cackling._

_"Giovanni, Team Rocket will be disbanded this day, so you will never harm another innocent again"_

_"Nice speech boy, now let's finish this" Giovanni threw 5 poke balls into the air, revealing a Rhyperior, Magnezone, Nidoking, Arcanine and a Machamp, his Persian then jumped down beside them and prepared for battle._

_"It's over for you Giovanni, come out my friends may the Aura be with you" Ash threw 5 poke balls into the air releasing Charizard, Lucario, Absol, Blastoise and Gardevoir, Meowth then stood in front of Persian ready to prove who the better cat was._

_"Rhyperior use Rock Wrecker on that overgrown lizard, Magnezone use Zap Cannon on Gardevoir, Nidoking use Mega Punch on Blastoise, Arcanine use Flamethrower on Absol, Machamp use Close Combat on Lucario and Persian you deal with the traitor." The Pokémon nodded and launched their attacks._

_"Charizard intercept Rhyperior with Flare Blitz then hit it with a Blast Burn, Gardevoir use Psychic to send the Zap Cannon back, then charge 2 Focus Blasts and obliterate that Magnezone, Blastoise use Iron Defence then use Hydro Spin, Absol charge through the flames and keep using Night Slash till it's down, Lucario use Elemental Combat to counter Machamp and Meowth you've got Persian._

_Charizard surrounded himself in flames and charged towards the rampaging Rhyperior, when they clashed Rhyperior was gradually being pushed back then Charizard opened his mouth and hit Rhyperior with a full power Blast Burn. Rhyperior collapsed on the spot its body covered in burns._

_Gardevoir watched the ball of electricity hurtling towards her and just raised her arm stopping the ball inches in front of her and sent it back with twice the force giving Magnezone no time to the dodge, it crashed to the ground, the paralysis making it unable to move as Gardevoir lobbed the two Focus Blasts she had been charging at the defenceless Pokémon, taking Magnezone out of the fight._

_Nidoking ran towards Blastoise it's fist glowing white, while Blastoise merely stood there raising it's defence, the fist collided with the tortoise's shell and bounced off causing Nidoking to roar in pain and clutch his hand. Blastoise then withdrew into his shell began spinning and sent several blasts of water at Nidoking propelling it across the room and slamming it into the wall, it slumped to the ground unconscious._

_Arcanine stood and shot a flamethrower at Absol who just ran straight through it seemingly unhindered, Arcanine was stunned when he saw the Absol in front of him and could do nothing as he was bombarded with slashes, he tried raising his paws in defence but was too slow, and was knocked out with cuts littering his body._

_Lucario's right fist cracked with electricity and his left was surrounded with flames, he charged at the fighting type before him and began his relentless assault, Machamp was on the defence from the start knowing he was completely outmatched, he tried throwing a punch at the Jackals head but missed and was hit by an incredible uppercut launching him into the air. Lucario then leapt above the fighting type and sent him plummeting to the ground with an Aura infused kick._

_Meowth and Persian were exchanging attacks, slashes being blocked by both, Meowth then jumped back firing a Thunder Pulse at Persian, the attack disoriented it, so Meowth took his opportunity to create a massive gash down the left side of Persian, which cried out in agony. _

_Giovanni growled in anger seeing his other Pokémon beaten so easily, he looked to the right and saw the cat's battling, cuts covered both their bodies and they both looked on the verge of fainting._

_"Persian destroy the traitor with Giga Impact!"_

_"Meowth show him a true Giga Impact"_

_The 2 cat's charged and a huge explosion blinded everyone, when they could see again Persian was in a heap on the ground, and Meowth was staggering in front of it, a grin plastered across his face. _

_Giovanni was speechless, he couldn't believe he had been beaten so easily._

_In a flash Ash appeared in front of the leader of Team Rocket, he had just enough time to mutter "oh shit" then Ash landed a punch to his stomach and an elbow to his neck, knocking him out. Ash went over to Giovanni's computer, hacked into the files and downloaded all the data on it, he then returned all his Pokémon and slung the unconscious Giovanni over his shoulder and got into the elevator travelling to the bottom floor and walking out the building being sure to avoid any grunts._

_Ash turned around pressed the button on the detonator in his hand and watched as the Team Rocket base collapsed, the noise caused by the explosions was deafening but Ash just stood there unfazed, smirking at his handiwork. He took the unconscious Giovanni to the nearest Police Station and left him and the data he had downloaded, with Officer Jenny._

_It was all over the news that the police had led a strike force against the Team Rocket Base capturing their leader, and scattering their forces. Giovanni was found guilty of several crimes to both humans and Pokémon thanks to the downloaded data and he was later imprisoned in a high security jail._

_End Flashback_

* * *

Ash decided not to tell Scott about how he found an old friend trapped in what appeared to be a torture chamber or how that friend now resided in the poke ball hanging from the necklace he wore. By the time Ash had finished they had reached his hotel.

"Well thanks for telling the truth about that Takeo, but just one question, how did knock out his Pokémon so easily"

"It's simple really, he never trained his Pokémon, he just had his Persian that was trained, and 5 Pokémon chosen for their intimidating appearance. I trust that you will keep this between us Scott. Now I want to know about Anabel."

"Of course it'll stay between us Takeo, and as for Anabel, I think we should talk about this after your match tomorrow, I don't want anything to distract you. Ash nodded then realised what Scott had said.

"What do you mean 'my match tomorrow'?"

"The opening ceremony and the first round of the tournament are tomorrow"

"Wait the letter you sent me said I had a week" Ash was shocked by this, he was planning on getting some last minute training done before the tournament began.

"Well I wrote that message a little while ago and I kinda forgot to send it on time, sorry about that" Scott said while looking quite embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it Scott, i'm just glad I decided to come here straight away"

"Well i've gotta get to my hotel, see you tomorrow, meet me at the Pokémon centre after your match tomorrow, then we'll talk ok"

"Okay Scott see ya"

As soon as Scott was out of earshot Meowth decided to break the silence "Ha dat look on his face was priceless" The pair burst out laughing at the situation.

When they calmed down Ash walked inside the hotel, went to the desk and got his room key from the receptionist, he went upstairs eventually finding his room, he opened the door and marvelled at the huge room he had been given and saw the massive bed, he put his backpack on the floor then jumped onto the bed with Meowth curled up beside him and fell asleep.

In a hotel room a few miles away a lavender haired woman is crying into a pillow, a picture of the person she loves clutched to her chest and an Espeon lying next to her trying to offer some comfort. Between whimpers she managed a single sentence, "Ash where are you?"

* * *

Notes

This was my first attempt at writing a battle scene so i'm sorry if it's not very good.

Combo moves:

Hydro Spin - Hydro Pump + Rapid Spin

Elemental Combat - Thunder Punch + Fire Punch + Close Combat

Thunder Pulse - Thunderbolt + Water Pulse


	3. Takeo vs Ray Jones

Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate it, remember any advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 3. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon

* * *

Ash woke up at the crack of dawn as usual, he yawned and stretched his limbs out. He went to his backpack and pulled out the spare set of clothes and the towel he kept in there and went into the bathroom. He came out 10 minutes later, fully dressed and ready to go, he walked over to his bed and nudged the sleeping cat eventually waking him up.

"Hey can't a cat get some sleep around here, what time is it?"

"It's morning, and the tournament begins today, so we need to tell the other's about the change of plans."

"Ok let's go then" Meowth climbed up Ash's arm and took his usual place on his shoulder.

Ash then noticed a note on the floor, that must have been placed underneath the door during the night, Ash picked it up and began reading it.

_Dear Takeo_

_I thought I should inform you that those from your past are here, several of whom are competing in the tournament, also your old Pikachu is now being used by Max, I do not know how many of your other old Pokémon are owned by him or the other's._

_Scott_

"Well it looks like we're gonna get our chance at vengeance, Charizard will be pleased."

Ash put on his cloak putting the hood up, picked up his backpack and exited the hotel without seeing anyone, due to how early it was, and began walking towards the secluded area he had found yesterday. When they arrived Ash grabbed the poke balls out of his bag "Everyone come on out"

13 Pokémon appeared in front of him. "Listen everyone, due to a minor mistake on Scott's part the tournament actually begins today not in a week's time, also I have been informed that the traitors are here and some of them are competing." The Pokémon looked at each other glad they'd have a chance to destroy them.

Lucario spoke up "Master do you know who we are battling today?"

"Lucario I wish you'd stop calling me master, we are friends and equals, and to answer your question no I haven't looked yet." Ash rummaged around in one of the inside pockets of his cloak and pulled out the crumpled schedule.

"It says we are fighting a guy called Ray Jones, and it is at 10:30 which will be the first match after the opening ceremony, well at least that gives us the rest of the day off"

Meowth decided to ask the question they all wanted to.

"So boss who ya choosing to use for the first battle" Ash looked around at his Pokémon then made his decision.

"Butterfree you're up first" Butterfree fluttered around in glee and you could hear him saying "yes" and "in your face" several times, the other's all groaned. "Come on guys you'll all get to battle at some point, and don't worry Charizard I'm saving a certain yellow rat for you. A sinister grin was now on Charizard's face.

"Anyway guys we've got about 3 hours till we have to be at the opening ceremony, so just relax and have some fun." Just then a water gun hit Ash in the face, everyone sniggered while Blastoise tried to look innocent, well as innocent as a Blastoise can look.

"Oh so that's how ya wanna play huh, well then take this" Ash threw an Aura sphere at the tortoise who just managed to dodge it. With a yell of Free-for-all they all charged in firing attacks at each other, after about an hour and a half of 'playing' they stopped all of them exhausted, Ash went to his bag and pulled out the healing poultice he had created. He gave everyone some medicine and they got up good as new.

"Ok guys I'm gonna take you to the pokemon centre, then we'll wait in the stadium till the opening ceremony begins, unless any of you would rather stay here" Luxray, Milotic, Blastoise, Gardevoir and Absol all chose to stay, Milotic dove into the spring with Blastoise, Luxray and Absol found a shaded area and decided to rest there and Gardevoir appeared to be meditating.

Ash began walking to the Pokémon centre when he entered he saw 7 people and 1 Pokémon that he hated almost as much as he hated Team Rocket.

The redhead was dragging a man by his ear while he proclaimed his love to Nurse Joy, A pair of Co-Ordinators were discussing contest moves, A boy stood with a yellow rat on his shoulder, while the grandson of Professor Oak was talking with the Pokémon watcher.

Ash's eyes flickered blue, his anger rising and his Aura flaring, then he heard a baritone voice in his head "Calm down Ash, defeat them in battle and crush their spirits, if you lose your temper you'll blow your cover and potentially get kicked out of the tournament."

"Thank you for that my friend, you are right as usual" Ash's eyes returned to their usual brown colour.

Ash walked past the traitors and handed his poke balls and Meowth to Nurse Joy.

"Can you take a look at these for me? We did some last minute training and I wanna make sure they are ready for battle"

"Ok take a seat, this should only take a few minuites"

Nurse Joy walked out the back with his poke balls leaving Ash alone with the traitors. Ash sat there for 5 minute's listening to all the pointless bickering from the traitors, making him wonder how he ever put up with the idiots in the first place.

"Mr Maple, Mr Oak, Miss Waterflower and Mr Hayashi your pokemon are now healed"

Ash walked up to the desk gathering his pokeballs while Meowth jumped on his shoulder, he then barged past the traitors causing Max to hit the floor.

"Hey you get back here and apologise to my brother"

"Make me"

Ash then saw a mallet coming his way, he took a step to the left and watched as Misty fell flat on her face.

"Where does she get that mallet from? Actually forget I asked I really don't think I wanna know" That caused Meowth to burst out laughing.

"Hey I don't want fighting in my Pokémon centre" by the tone in Nurse Joy's voice you could tell she was serious.

"I apologise Nurse Joy but these people attacked me, I will be leaving now" with a bow Ash left and walked in the direction of the main stadium. Leaving 7 fuming people in the pokemon centre.

* * *

With half an hour to spare Ash walked into the building and found a secluded area on the back wall, he leant against the wall and closed his eyes, mentally preparing himself. He then heard a pair of familiar voices, he opened his and saw the 2 people he knew as his best friends Paul Shinji and Richie Hiroshi who had his Raichu Sparky sat on his shoulder.

Paul broke the silence between them "So you decided to turn up, good I've been looking forward to a rematch." "As have I" Richie added.

"Same here guys, I guess you've seen 'them' here haven't you?" Ash spat

"Yeah, we have" the anger they felt evident in their tone

"How are you"

"I'm okay thanks, I just can't wait to crush them" Both Paul and Richie nodded in understanding.

Ash decided to change the topic "So what have you 2 been up to since I last saw you?"

"Well I won the Indigo League and Paul won the Lily of the Valley Conference, neither of us really had much competition"

"So did you challenge the Elites?"

"Yeah we beat the Elites but Lance and Cynthia beat us" Paul replied sounding disappointed.

"Hey that's still an impressive achievement guys"

Richie then noticed something happening on the stage.

"Hey guys it looks like the ceremony is beginning" All of them turned their attention to the stage, seeing Charles Goodshow going to the mic.

"Attention all, welcome to the Championship of Legends, you have all been chosen to compete in this tournament where the greatest trainer in the world will be decided, here to explain the rules is the defending Champion, Lance" The Dragon Tamer stepped up

"Thank you Mr Goodshow, in Round 1 all the competitors except the members of the Battle Frontier, Gym Leaders, Elite 4 and Champions compete, in Round 2 the people mentioned above will also compete, and then the rest of the tournament follows the standard elimination rules."

"The winner of the tournament will not only be given the title of being the best Pokémon trainer in the world, he will also be made Champion of Kanto and be allowed to create his own Elite 4."

This gained Ash's attention "Hm this tournament just got a lot more interesting" The other's nodded in agreement.

"Anyway let's get the tournament underway, will Ray Jones and Takeo Hayashi please come to the battlefield"

"Hey you'd better not lose Takeo only I'm allowed to eliminate you" Paul grinned while saying this.

"Thanks Paul, and you and Richie better not lose either"

With that Ash walked up to his trainer box across from his opponent.

"On the red side we have Ray Jones", cheers erupted around the stadium, "and on the green side we have Takeo Hayashi." Many people looked at the hooded man wondering who he actually was since nobody had heard of him.

"The random generator has decided this will be A 3v3 single battle, no substitutions are allowed, red side choose your Pokémon"

"You don't stand a chance, you might as well give up now"

Ash yawned in response, this angered Ray.

"Your up Flareon" the fire eeveelution came out and took up a battle stance.

Ash smirked, "Butterfree may the Aura guide you"

Butterfree came out in a flash.

"I'm ready Ash"

Up in the stands a certain yellow pokemon was now pondering over what he had just heard, he was certain he heard that Butterfree call his trainer Ash, but Ash released his Butterfree a long time ago and he wouldn't catch another one, would he? Pikachu felt like his head was gonna explode, Max looked at Pikachu and saw him deep in thought.

"Hey Pikachu, you okay?"

"Pika" he then nodded hoping that would show he was fine, which Max seemed to accept.

Meanwhile Ray was laughing "You're actually choosing a pathetic bug to fight my Flareon, you must have bought your way into this tournament."

This infuriated Butterfree, "Ash let's crush this guy"

"Well ladies first, so go ahead Ray" This made Meowth and Butterfree snigger, and caused Ray to see red.

"Nobody mocks me, Flareon roast that bug with Flamethrower."

"Butterfree use Double Team to dodge, then use Quiver Dance."

The Flamethrower hurtled towards Butterfree but only hit one of the several copies now surrounding Flareon, which were now using the stat boosting move.

"Flareon use Flamethrower on all the of them"

"Butterfree dive down to dodge, then use Psychic to throw Flareon into the wall"

Flareon shot Flamethrower's in all directions, eliminating all the copies, but missing the original, Flareon was then lifted in the air and was slammed straight through the wall, he managed to stand but only just. Ray growled in annoyance, he was being beaten by a bug.

"Flareon full power Fire Blast"

Ash just said 2 words in response.

"Hyper Beam"

Both Pokémon charged their attacks and launched them, Butterfree's Hyper Beam cut straight through the Fire Blast and hit Flareon causing a huge explosion leaving him unconscious in a huge crater. Almost everyone in the stadium was astonished, A bug Pokémon had just easily beaten a fire type without taking a hit.

"Flareon is unable to battle, red side choose your next Pokémon"

Ray snapped out of his shock "That was just luck, it won't happen a second time, now your up Onix" he threw his pokeball in the air and released the giant rock worm.

"Onix use Iron Tail on the ground then use Rock Throw"

When Onix slammed his tail into the ground it cracked it creating several boulders which he now threw at Butterfree.

"Use Protect to stop the boulders, then form an Energy Ball and a Shadow Ball and use Gust to propell them at Onix"

The boulders were speeding towards Butterfree who put up a shield causing them to ricochet off it and crash to the ground, Butterfree then formed an orb of green energy and an orb of dark energy and launched them at Onix flapping his wings to speed them up. The orbs crashed into Onix and it let out a loud roar then keeled over slamming onto the battlefield causing the ground to shake and a dust cloud covered the field. Butterfree used gust again to clear the smoke away revealing an unconscious Onix.

"Onix is unable to battle, red side choose your last Pokémon"

Ray signed he knew it was over. "Hayashi. I know I can't win but I'm not giving up"

Ash admired that kind of attitude.

"Skarmory let's do this"

The steel flying type screeched as it appearer causing many of the audience to cover their ears.

"Skarmory use Steel Wing"

"Match him Butterfree."

The 2 clashed sparks flying from each collision, neither seeming to gain an advantage.

"Butterfree disengage and use Ominous Silver Wind"

Butterfree broke away from Skarmory and began flapping it's wings sending a dark wind which had some silver dust at Skarmory knocking him back.

"Skarmory break through and use Brave Bird"

Skarmory struggled through the wind and began charging towards Butterfree.

"Wait for it Butterfree... wait for it.. now use Electroweb."

When Skarmory was no more than a metre away Butterfree fired a net of electricity at him, trapping Skarmory and shocking him, he tried to break out of the net but it was futile and eventually passed out. The problem was he was still high in the air so he began to falling to the ground at a very high speed.

"SKARMORY!" Ray yelled out in fear for his Pokémon, he tried to return him put kept missing the speed of his descent making it hard to judge where to aim.

"Butterfree quick use full power Psychic and lower Skarmory to the ground"

Butterfree caught Skarmory seconds before it crash into the earth, and gently placed him on the ground, Ray then returned him. Butterfree floated down clearly exhausted and landed on Ash's shoulder, Ash thanked him for his hard work and returned him to his poke ball.

"Skarmory is unable to battle, the red side is out of Pokémon so the winner is Takeo Hayashi"

Both trainers walked to the centre of the battlefield and shook hands.

"Thanks for saving Skarmory and I'm sorry for insulting you and your Butterfree."

"Don't worry about it I'm just glad Skarmory is okay."

Applause rang out from around the stadium at seeing such sportsmanship between the trainers, apart from 7 people, who looked on angrily, Max yelled

"I can't believe that jerk won!"

"Don't worry Max you'll take him down I know it"

Everyone nodded agreeing with May. Pikachu sat there stunned, if that really was Ash Ketchum then what on Earth had happened to him in the last 6 years, He then decided that he would think about this more later as Max has a match in an hours time and he wanted to be ready for battle.

In the V.I.P box, the Gym Leaders, Elite 4, Champions and Frontier Brains were amazed at what they had just witnessed, Lance felt someone nudge him, he looked and saw Steven the Hoenn Champion

"It seems we may have some competition" Lance just nodded not sure what to say.

Scott went to Greta.

"I need you to come with me" Greta though confused complied and went with Scott.

"So what do you need me for Scott?"

"I promised Takeo that I'd tell him about Anabel's behaviour over the last 6 years, and you know some things about what's happened that I don't, I truly think he can help her but he needs all the facts before he tries helping her." Greta nodded with A pained look in her eyes.

Outside the stadium Ash was walking towards the pokecentre to give Butterfree the rest he deserved, Richie and Paul caught up with him.

"Great job Takeo" Richie said with a great deal of enthusiasm, clapping him on the back.

"Yeah not bad Hayashi" Paul said.

"Thanks guys, so when are your matches"

Richie replied first "I'm up in an hour in stadium 3, I've never heard of the guy I'm up against though."

"And I'm battling in stadium 2 in 3 hours, what are you up to now that you have the rest of the day off"

"I've got an important meeting with Scott, so how about I call your Pokenav's later and we can meet up."

Richie answered first "Sounds good to me."

"Yeah what he said." Paul answered with his usual enthusiasm, though he was smirking.

They exchanged numbers and went their separate ways.

* * *

Ash walked into the Pokémon centre and up to Nurse Joy.

"Hey Nurse Joy can you heal up Butterfree, he worked hard today."

"Of course he'll be good as new in no time."

"Oh and when can I expect my schedule for the next round?"

"Well due to the large number of contestants Round 1 takes 2 days, so come back in a couple of days and it will be ready."

Ash looked to the far corner of the room and saw Scott and Greta, he walked over to the pair.

"Hey Scott, what's Greta doing here?"

"She has some information you need to know Takeo."

"Okay well once Butterfree's healed we can go."

"By the way that was a great battle today and what you did for Skarmory at the end was very noble."

"Thanks Scott, and I only did what I would want someone else to do for my Pokémon."

"Mr Hayashi your Butterfree is fully healed."

Ash walked up to the desk, collected Butterfree and thanked Nurse Joy. He went back to Scott.

"Okay let's go."

The trio walked out the pokemon centre, Ash looked at Meowth and handed him all his pokeballs except for Charizard's.

"Can you take them to the other's so they can relax" Meowth nodded and went off into the forest.

"Alright Takeo we'll talk in my hotel room it's safe there and we won't be interupted."

They walked back to the hotel, no words were said on the way, they entered the building went up the elevator and arrived at Scott's room they walked inside and sat down.

"So Scott, tell me everything that's happened from the very beginning and don't leave anything out."

"Okay, it all started on the day of Ash Ketchum's disappearence..."

* * *

Notes:

I want to ask you guys for your opinion on how many of Ash's old pokemon are now owned by the traitors, I have already decided on Pikachu and 4 others so far.

I'd like to thank **BlackLatios562 at your command** for pointing out A monumental mistake I made in this chapter, as in the original upload I completely forgot about Pikachu and the reaction he would have to hearing Butterfree say Ash. I recommend you check out his work.

Combo moves:

Ominous Silver Wind - Ominous Wind + Silver Wind


	4. Anabel's 6 years of pain

Thanks for the reviews guys they are really helping me out and hopefully making the story better for you. Remember any advice is welcome.

I am gonna ask for your guys opinion on this chapter, if you want me to remove and replace it with something less dark then I will do so.

WARNING: This chapter contains mentions of self harm, A warning will be placed before and after the scene so you know what to skip.

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon

* * *

"It all started on the day of Ash Ketchum's disappearence, Anabel had come to me that morning asking if she could close the Battle Tower for a few days, when I asked why she said that she wanted to go to Pallet Town to see Ash. I allowed her to go, I had a feeling she was intending to tell Ash how she felt about him." Ash looked down, guilt knawing at him, one thought going through his head 'it's my fault'.

"She thanked me repeatedly and left with a huge smile plastered across her face, that's the last time I saw that smile, she came back a few hours later in tears." Ash could see Scott was finding it hard speaking about this.

"I could see how heartbroken she was so I decided to shut down the Battle Tower temporarily, contenders were just sent to Brandon instead. She was in no state to be left alone so I escorted her home and stayed the night, she eventually cried herself to sleep."

Scott exhaled, he didn't think it would be this hard for him to tell Ash, but it was, he wondered how on Earth Greta would cope with telling her part. He cleared his thoughts and carried on.

"When she woke up the next morning she said she was going to try to find Ash and she spent a week searching Kanto for him."

Ash couldn't believe it he had only stayed in Vermillion City for a couple of days before going back to Sinnoh,'if only I'd stayed a few days longer' he kept repeating in his head.

"Reluctantly she stopped looking in Kanto, but was determined to go to the other regions, I stopped her from doing so. She knew next to nothing about the other regions and there was no telling what could happen to her, I promised her I'd call in several favours from people throughout the 4 regions and see if they could find him."

"But they couldn't" Ash said solemnly.

"No, they searched for months trying to track him down, but no trace could be found."

Ash had covered his tracks very well, he didn't want to be found, at the time he was still devastated about what had happened and was trying to deal with his problems.

"Anabel started blocking everyone out, she'd miss meetings, would turn down going out with other Brains and eventually she had completely locked herself away in her home. It was like this for 3 months everyday at least one of us would visit and try to get her to talk to us, but everyday we failed."

"Then out of the blue she began coming to meetings again and re-opened the Battle Tower, she'd put on fake smiles around us thinking we wouldn't notice, but we did, we also noticed how she was always wearing outfits with long sleeves even in hot weather, at first we thought nothing of it as she usually dressed that way in the past." Scott now had his head in his hands, tears leaking from his eyes.

Ash was terrified, he was praying to Arceus and anyone else listening that they weren't about to say what he thought they were.

Scott looked at Greta "Can you please tell him what you saw that day Greta" She nodded, but was clearly struggling to keep her composure.

* * *

WARNING SCENE OF SELF HARM BEGINS NOW!

Flashback (5 years ago)

Greta is walking to Anabel's house to check on her, the Brains all did this on A regular basis to make sure she was okay.

_Greta knocked on the door and found it was unlocked, she walked inside and she could hear Anabel sobbing upstairs. She grabbed a pokeball just in case a robber had broken in and was hurting her._

_She walked up the stairs as quietly as possible, and noticed that the noise was coming from the bathroom, she opened the door and what she saw made her retch, Anabel was stood at the sink, a knife in her right hand, blood dripping from it on to the counter mixing with the tears streaming down her face. A long cut could be seen on her left arm, blood slowly seeping out. _

_Anabel turned to Greta, they stood looking at each other, time seemed to stand still, when suddenly Anabel dropped the knife and fell forwards, Greta luckily caught her before she hit the floor. She placed Anabel on her bed went back to the bathroom to get some medical supplies. She returned and bandaged her arm to the best of her ability._

_She pulled her pokenav out of her pocket and called Scott._

_Scott picked up his pokenaz "Hi Greta what's up?_

_"I-i-it's Anabel, Scott y-y-y-you gotta get here NOW!"_

_A few minutes later Greta heard a car screech to a stop._

_"Greta where are you?"_

_"I'm-i'm-i'm up here Scott in-in Anabel's room"_

_Scott bounded up the stairs and burst into the room. He only had to look at the bandage on her left arm and the marks littering her right to know what had happened._

_"Oh no, oh dear Arceus no."_

_Both Scott and Greta were hoping this was nightmare they would wake from, but knew they wouldn't because this was a nightmare they were living in._

_"What do we do Scott?"_

_"I don't know Greta, I just don't know."_

Flashback over

SCENE OF SELF HARM ENDED

* * *

Greta had broken down and was now wailing, Scott was hugging her in an attempt to calm her down.

"After that we made her see a specialist and made sure either myself or one of the Frontier Brains was with her at all times, we did this for a couple of years, the specialist said that since she hadn't tried anything, she was allowed to be left on her own again. However Greta checked her a few times a week to make sure she didn't start again."

Ash fell to his knees and pounded the floor, tears streaming down his cheeks, he hadn't cried since that day 6 years ago, as he had managed to keep his emotions in check but now he just couldn't stop crying. His worst nightmare had now become reality.

"It's all my fault, it's all my fucking fault." Ash didn't care if Greta found out who he was, right now nothing mattered to Ash.

Hearing this Greta managed out ask a single question. "Scott why is Takeo blaming himself?"

Scott saw no reason to lie to Greta "Because Takeo is Ash Ketchum"

Greta then realised why Scott had said only Takeo could help Anabel. She then heard Ash speak.

"Where's Anabel's room"

"Ash maybe you should calm down first, before you confront Anabel, besides she'll still be at the stadium watching the first round with the others"

Although Ash wanted to see Anabel he knew that seeing him in this state would not be good for either of them, he heeded Scott's advice and started to calm himself down.

"When will she get back?" Ash asked in as calm a tone as he could manage.

"The first round matches end in about an hour, so she should be back in an hour and a half." Scott was relieved Ash had chosen to take his advice.

Greta got up from her seat walked up to Ash and punched him. "Listen you bastard you better fix this otherwise there will be nowhere for you to hide from me." Ash rubbed his cheek and nodded.

"Scott, I'm gonna head to my room, and try to get some sleep, bringing up these horrid memories has exhausted me" Scott nodded and Greta left the room leaving Ash and Scott alone.

"Ash stopping blaming yourself, there is no way any of us could have forseen this, you were still in a dark place after your friends and pokemon betrayed you."

"But I should have gone to her or someone else I trusted first and told them what happened, instead of running away and not taking into account other people."

"Ash, what's done is done, what matter's now is what you are going to do to make things right."

"Ok Scott, listen can I stay in here and take a nap until Anabel gets back?"

"Sure Ash, I think Greta had the right idea, i'll make sure to wake you up"

"Thanks Scott" Ash lied down and fell asleep"

* * *

Time skip (1 hour 30 minutes)

Scott heard a door slam shut down the hall, he was certain it was Anabel's, he walked over to the sleeping Ash. "Ash, wake up, I think Anabel's back, she's in room 348."

Ash shot up "Okay Scott thanks, wish me luck" Ash walked out the door with his hood up.

Scott then whispered "Good luck Ash, please bring Anabel back to us."

Ash walked down the hall and found room 348, he knocked on the door. "Anabel, are you in there?"

Anabel went to the door, opened it and saw a hooded man. "Who are you?"

Ash looked down the hall and saw nobody so he lowered his hood "Hi Anabel"

* * *

Notes

As mentioned before tell me if you want me to re-do this chapter, I Know that this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I wanted to give it a go and give you guys the option. I have no problem with doing the chapter again if you want me too.

If you're wondering why Anabel went to such extreme's, I figured that due to her empathic abilities it could cause her emotions to be much stronger than that of a normal person. But that's just my opinion guys.


	5. Anabel and Ash together at last

Thanks again for the reviews guys. I am glad that you liked chapter 4. Any advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 5, to be honest I am kind of disappointed with this chapter, I don't think it's anywhere near as good as previous chapters for several reasons. I just hope I make it up to you all in chapter 6.

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon

* * *

Anabel went to the door, opened it and saw a hooded man. "Who are you?"

Ash looked down the hall and saw nobody so he lowered his hood "Hi Anabel"

Anabel gasped, she knew those eyes and that hair could only belong to one person "Ash is it really you?"

"Yes Anabel it's me."

Anabel lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him and began crying into his chest, Ash returned the embrace with a sad smile on his face. He manouvered them inside and on to the couch so they could have some privacy. Anabel began to calm down, her sobs gradually becoming hiccups.

"A-ash I m-m-missed you s-s-so much."

"I missed you to Anabel and I'm so sorry for causing you so much pain over the past 6 years."

"Ash I don't care about that, all that matters to me is that you are here now."

Ash decided that there was no time like the present to confess "Anabel, there is something I have to tell you and it's very important."

Anabel looked straight up into Ash's eyes, hope flooded through her.

"Anabel, for the past 6 years you're all I've thought about, I should have come back sooner but I was afraid, afraid that you'd hate me for being gone for so long. Anabel what I'm trying to say is I love you."

Anabel felt like her heart was gonna burst out of her chest, she couldn't believe that the man she loved felt the same way.

"Ash I love you too."

She pushed her lips against his and for the first time in 6 years she was truly happy. When they eventually broke the kiss the two of them were blushing furiously, with smiles on their faces.

"Ash promise me you'll never leave me again, I can't survive without you."

"I promise Anabel, I wouldn't want to live without you."

The pair spent the next few hours talking, Ash told her about Team Rocket, which didn't surprise her, the idea of the police doing anything along the lines of what they claimed is laughable, and Anabel reluctantly showed Ash her scars and told him how it all started when she had seen A repeat of his battles against Gary and Tobias.

They hadn't even noticed it was late until Anabel yawned. Ash picked her up, took to the bedroom and put her in bed. He then went to walk out the door when he heard Anabel.

"Where are you going?"

"I was gonna sleep on the couch."

Anabel pleaded "Please don't leave me."

Ash couldn't deny her so turned around took off his cloak, got under the covers and pulled Anabel to him. They both fell to sleep not long after, both enjoying the best nights sleep they'd had for many years.

The next morning Ash woke up, looked at Anabel and smiled. He saw her eyes flicker open and looked straight into her gorgeous lavender eyes.

"Good morning beautiful."

Anabel smiled, "I thought last night was a dream."

"Nope, I'm afraid you're stuck with me."

"I think I can live with that."

"Good because I'm never leaving you again. I guess we should get up."

"Yeah you're right."

"I've gotta go back to my hotel room okay Anabel, I'll meet you outside the Pokemon centre in an hour."

Ash gave her a quick kiss, got up and put his cloak on, making sure his hood was up. He opened the door and saw Scott and the other Brains there, presumably here to collect Anabel to take her to the stadium for today's matches.

Ash's mind went blank "Uh, hi guys."

5 of said Brains looked at him wondering 'why the hell was he in Anabel's room' "Hi Takeo, what er, what are you doing here." Brandon asked.

Ash knew he could trust them so he lowered his hood, causing 5 of the people to gasp and causing their eyes to widen.

Anabel had gotten ready for the day when she heard voices coming from the door. She walked out with a smile on her face and went up to Ash and hugged him tightly.

Ash decided to speak up "Ok everyone listen up, yes I'm back and Anabel and I are together."

Their reply was a simple nod.

"By the way everyone remember that my name is Takeo Hayashi in public ok."

Again they nodded.

"Alright, Anabel I'll see you later okay" Ash walked past the still stunned Brains, putting his hood back up he went over to the elevator and left the hotel. He let Charizard out, jumped on his back and flew towards his hotel.

The Frontier Brains weren't sure what had shocked them most, Ash's reappearance, Anabel genuinely smiling or the fact that they were now together, none of them could form a coherent sentence. Scott and Greta looked on with smiles on their faces happy that Anabel seemed to be better already.

Anabel looked at Scott and Greta "Hey Scott can I have the day off? And can you two explain what's going to these guys?"

"Sure Anabel, go have fun with your boyfriend" Anabel blushed at Greta's comment and quickly made her escape.

* * *

Timeskip (1 hour)

Ash is waiting outside the Pokemon centre, when suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around him.

"Hey Anabel."

"So Takeo what do you wanna do, I have the day off so we can do anything."

"Well I was going to suggest taking you to see my pokemon."

"Sounds good."

Ash called Charizard out and asked him to take them to the other's, Charizard nodded and took off, slightly scaring Anabel as she was not used to flying, let alone flying at this speed. Ash noticed this and told Charizard to slow down. When they came to the clearing Charizard landed and the two passengers got off.

Anabel looked at the 14 pokemon in front of her, she knew about Charizard, Primeape, Butterfree and Blastoise as Ash had told her stories about them before his disappearance and had learned about Meowth while Ash had told her about Team Rocket.

"Ash can I ask how you met your pokemon?"

"I'll have to ask them first because some of them have very dark pasts. Ash whistled and all the pokemon lined up in front of him.

"Guys this is Anabel, and she's my girlfriend." All of them smiled, knowing their master could now be truly happy.

"I wanted to ask you all if it would be okay to tell Anabel about how I met each of you" Gardevoir and Flygon were reluctant but like the rest said it would be okay. They then went back to what they were doing beforehand.

"Anabel you should let out your pokemon so they can meet mine."

"Good idea Ash, come on out my friends" She threw 6 pokeballs which revealed A Metagross, Alakazam, Mr Mime, Galade, an Espeon and Raikou.

Alakazam and Mr Mime went and began meditating with Gardevoir, Raikou joined Glaceon, Luxray and Absol and began A 4 way mock battle. Metagross and Gallade joined the Lucario and Scizor in a 4 way melee and Espeon lied down next to Anabel, happy at seeing her master smile again.

"So who do you want to know about first Anabel?"

"How about Luxray over there?"

"Okay, I met Luxray a few months after the betrayal. I saw him being attacked by several Luxio and an older Luxray, they were looking to kill, I sent out Charizard and Primape who forced the attackers to flee, but they took a lot of punishment. I healed Luxray up, he told us that the Alpha male of his pack had a rule that no Luxio was to evolve, I guess he didn't want any threats to his status. He had been attacked by a Machamp and had to evolve or he'd have been killed. I asked him if he'd like to join me and he obviously said yes."

"Wow, are all of their pasts that sad?"

"Most of them are yes." Ash had a sad smile on his face.

Anabel looked back and saw Luxray and Absol relaxing while Raikou was now fighting Glaceon 1 on 1.

"Well how about Absol?"

"I met her about a year after Luxray, as you know Absol is known as the disaster pokemon. Absol had started visiting a village trying to warn them of disasters, unfortunately they believed she was the cause of the disasters. One day when she tried again they sent out several pokemon and attacked her, she was holding her own when I arrived but was getting weaker, I sent out Luxray who wiped out the villagers pokemon. Absol came with up to me and tapped one of the pokeballs on my belt.

"I've noticed those two are rather close, are they...?

"Yes, they are mates, that happened about three months later, you don't wanna know how I found out." Ash shuddered at the memory.

"Who do you want to know about now" Ash said desperate to change the topic.

"Tell me about Glaceon." At the mention of the ice types name Espeon began listening intently.

"I found her when she was just a small Eevee, she was rummaging in my pack looking for food. I caught her in the act, I saw how tiny she was and gave her some food. I asked her why she was alone and she told me she had been abandoned by her pack because she was the runt and was slowing everyone down. I told her what had happened to me and we saw how alike we were, she asked to come with me so she could become strong."

"That's awful to be abandoned by your family." Anabel couldn't believe any parent could even consider doing such a thing. Espeon nodded feeling sorry for her fellow eeveelution.

"Gardevoir's and Flygon's histories are even worse."

"What happened to them?"

"I met them both within days of each other. I found Flygon first, I heard explosions coming from the west, I went to investigate and saw Hunter J attacking Flygon with a Salamence and a Sharpedo, he appeared to be defending another Flygon and a Trapinch, Meowth jumped into the battle firing a Thunderbolt at the Sharpedo and knocking it out, this distracted Hunter J and Salamence giving Flygon the chance to hit Salamence with a Dragon Tail. Hunter J seeing that she was now at a disadvantage, fled. I went to check the two bodies behind Flygon, they had both died, they were his mate and their young son. Flygon said he would hunt down Hunter J for this, I promised to help him do so."

"We caught up with Hunter J a few weeks later, and is now rotting in the same jail Giovanni resides in.

"And Gardevoir was a young Ralts at the time. I found her crying next to her parents bodies. They had been attacked by a pack of Mightyena when they had accidentally walked on their territory. Her parents died defending her. I brought out Flygon, he knew what it was like to lose your family and if anyone could help her, it was him, over time they became inseparable.

"What about Tyrannitar, is his history sad?" She was hoping it wasn't, she didn't know if she could take much more.

"No, he is actually the Larvitar I hatched in Johto all those years ago, we met up again while I was searching for info on Team Rocket, he had grown up and wanted to become strong and travel the world so he joined me."

Ash decided to just carry on with the other's stories.

"Milotic is the only other one who has a troubled past. While I was in Hoenn I saw a trainer with his Feebas, he was yelling at it, calling it a weak and useless pokemon who was too pathetic to evolve. He crushed it's pokeball and walked away, I went to her looked into her eyes and saw a burning desire to be strong. I said that if she came with me I'd make her the strongest Milotic in the world. After a few weeks of training she evolved, her previous trainer had no clue how to raise her which is why she hadn't evolved."

"Scizor spotted me and Lucario training one day and was impressed with what he saw I guess. He challenged Lucario and after a long fight he was the first to faint but Lucario fainted moments after, Scizor wanted to come with me so he could fight with Lucario again."

"And Lucario was the Riolu in Sinnoh I told you about, he had been looking for me because after that day my Aura had been rising to dangerous levels and he was scared for my safety, he helped me master my Aura.

After Ash finished telling Anabel their pasts they spent the rest of the day relaxing with the pokemon. Ash suggested leaving thier pokemon in the clearing and getting some food on the way back to the hotel. On the way back Ash suddenly remebered something.

"Oh shit, I completely forgot about Paul and Richie, oh they are gonna be pissed." He quickly pulled out his pokenav and saw he had 11 missed calls, he quickly dialed Paul's number.

"Ketchum, where the fuck have you been?" Yep he's pissed.

"Paul I can explain, listen meet up with me outside the pokemon centre tomorrow at noon, bring Richie too. We can then pick up our schedule's for the second round too"

"Ok but it better be a damn good explanation." Paul then hung up.

"Well that when better than expected."

"What do you mean?"

"He only swore once."

It was dark by the time they got back to the hotel, they went inside and managed to get back to her room without being seen, and like the night before they fell to sleep in each other's arms.

The next morning Ash went with Anabel down to his training area and they picked up their pokemon and began walking to the pokemon centre spotting two very angry looking men standing outside.

"Alright Hayashi let's here your lame excuse." Paul was still pissed.

"Yeah, Takeo what was so important that you had to ignore us?" and so was Richie.

"Well guys I met up with Anabel and well now we are together, so I've been spending my time with her." Richie seemed to understand and calmed down. Paul was less pissed than before, but he was still pretty annoyed. Ash felt sorry for whoever Paul was going to be battling.

"So let's go and get our schedule's." Ash said trying to lighten the mood.

"We'd already have ours if you hadn't been late as usual." Paul grumbled.

The four of them walked up to the and each asked for their schedule. Richie decided to say who he was up against first.

"I'm battling a guy called Nando, the hell kinda name is that? What about you guys?"

"I've got that loser Barry again." Paul said with disdain.

"I'm against someone who challenged the Battle Tower a couple of months before Ash, I just managed to beat him last time, his name's Hyaki Sitora."

"Who've you got Takeo?" When they got no answer they looked at him, an almost maniacal smile on his face.

"I've got the opportunity to crush ..."

* * *

Notes

Who will Ash be facing in the second round - The traitors participating are: Max, Misty, Gary and Brock, see if you can guess right.

Ash will be facing some of his old pokemon, how will he react?


	6. Gary Motherfcking Oak

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 6 hope you enjoy

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

"I get to crush Gary motherfucking Oak, oh I am gonna enjoy this."

The feral grin on Ash's face was beginning to scare Anabel, she hated this look.

"Takeo, please stop you're scaring me." She was pleading to him hoping she'd get through.

But Ash focussed solely on the schedule in front of him, ignoring everything else, the only thing on his mind was revenge. Then from the corner of his eye he saw a tear trickle down Anabel's cheek, this snapped him out of it.

"I'm so sorry Anabel." He pulled her into an embrace.

"Please don't ever have that look on your face again." She never wanted to see him like that again.

"I'm sorry Anabel, I let my desire for revenge take over there, I know that is no excuse, but I promise I will do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen again."

Anabel had calmed down now, she looked at Ash's face and the smile she loved was back. The doors to the Pokémon centre then opened, the four of them looked to see who had entered and saw them.

Paul, Richie and Anabel looked at Ash and saw that he was remaining relatively calm, they decided that they should make A quick exit, they didn't want be around them unless they had to. As the groups approached each other the 7 traitors glared at them while Paul and Richie shot back glares of their own, while Ash's face remained blank and Anabel avoided their gaze. Just as the quartet were about to exit Ash called out.

"See you tomorrow Gare-bare."

This made Gary grind his teeth, he hated that nickname, he looked at his schedule and saw that he will be battling Takeo tomorrow. The other's reassured him that he could take Hayashi down no problem.

"Yeah I'm Gary Oak, that loser can't beat me."

* * *

Outside the Pokémon centre, the 4 of them decided to get some training done before tomorrow, Richie and Paul went off on their own while Ash and Anabel walked back to the clearing.

When they arrived they sent out their pokemon, Ash's Pokémon looked at him waiting to hear about their opponent for the next round.

"Everyone, tomorrow we get to fight our old friend Gary, now I want you guys to choose the 3 of you who will battle, I don't want to choose because I know you all want a piece of them."

They all huddled and eventually 3 stepped forward.

"Ok so you three will be battling, he'll never know what hit him." The Pokémon all cheered in agreement.

Ash looked over at Anabel and noticed she looked quite nervous.

"Anabel, what's wrong, are you still worried about what happened in the Pokémon centre?"

"No, it's just this guy I am facing is tough, I only just managed to beat him last time I battled him and that was when I was at my prime, he's gonna crush me." She looked to the floor dejectedly.

"Don't worry Anabel, I believe in you, we've still got the rest of the day so me and my Pokémon will help you train."

So for the next few hours they trained, when they were not fighting mock battles for Ash and Anabel, Raikou spent time with Luxray learning a couple of new techniques on how to manipulate his electricity, Metagross sparred with Lucario, Alakazam and Mr Mime spent time with Charizard learning Thunderpunch and Fire punch to surprise opponents, Espeon spent time with Glaceon learning Signal Beam and to Flygon's annoyance Gallade spent a lot of time with Gardevoir.

Eventually nightfall came, the Pokémon decided they wanted to stay out in the forest, so the pair returned to the hotel.

* * *

The next morning, Ash and Anabel went and got their chosen Pokémon and went their separate ways as their matches started at the same time. Ash got to stadium 3 just in time to watch Paul wipe the floor with Barry. He went down to the locker room congratulating his friend for his victory to which Paul replied.

"He was weak." which is as close to thank you as you are likely to get from Paul.

Ash heard his and Gary's name be called, he walked out the tunnel and saw his oldest rival, they both stood in their boxes.

"In the red trainer box we have Gary Oak and in the green trainer box we have Takeo Hayashi." All bar 6 people cheered for the mysterious trainer.

"This battle will be a 3v3 match where when 1 Pokémon faints both trainers select a new Pokémon. Hayashi shall choose his Pokémon first."

"Charizard let's crush this worm." Charizard burst out of his pokeball and roared, intimidating Gary who was remembering the last time he fought one.

"I'm ready for battle Ash."

Pikachu decided that he was gonna get some answer's, he was certain that it was Ash Ketchum now. He just wasn't yet sure how to get close to him, so he began formulating a plan.

"That lizard doesn't scare me, Blastoise you're up"

The tortoise came out and instantly recognised his opponent, and was looking forward to getting revenge for what happened in the Silver Conference.

"Blastoise use Hydro Pump." Gary smirked thinking this was gonna be an easy win.

"Take it."

Blastoise shot 2 high pressure jets of water from the cannons on it's back straight at Charizard who just stood there and waited for it. When the jets hit Charizard everyone was stunned that it didn't even seem to have phased the fire type. Gary stood their stunned nothing had ever taken a Hydro Pump from Blastoise and still be standing as if nothing had happened.

"Charizard use Earthquake then charge forward and hit him with a Focus Punch and fire a Solarbeam."

Charizard stomped on the ground causing it shake more than when Onix had slammed onto the battlefield the other day. This knocked Blastoise off-balance and he was unable to dodge the charging Charizard who punched him and sent him flying past Gary.

Gary had been so shocked by what had happened before that he hadn't registered anything going on until Blastoise went past crashing into the wall behind him and then being hit by the powerful beam of energy. Seeing Blastoise struggle to get up he decided to go for broke and just hoped he could do some damage, before Blastoise went down.

"Gary your Blastoise is pathetic, Charizard's not even warmed up yet and it's over for him, such a disappointment."

"Blastoise is not pathetic, use Giga Impact."

"Take a step to the left then use Thunder Punch to knock him in the air and then you know what to do."

Blastoise charged towards Charizard who like before just stood there and seconds before Blastoise was about to slam into his opponent, Charizard stepped to the left and hit Blastoise with an Electric infused uppercut sending him into the sky. The fire type then flew into the air caught Blastoise and began executing what had become his signature move, he flew high into the air and then threw Blastoise back towards Earth. Leaving a Blastoise shaped crater in the battlefield.

Gary couldn't believe it, he had never been beaten so easily, and he hadn't even landed a damaging hit.

"Blastoise is unable to battle, trainers choose your next Pokémon."

"Well Gary I was expecting the grandson of the famous Professor Samuel Oak to give me a challenge, I guess I was wrong."

"This match isn't over yet Hayashi, Garchomp you're up."

Ash knew that Garchomp was the Gible who betrayed him, and now he was gonna pay for it.

Ash looked to his shoulder "Meowth you're up, let's annihilate him."

Ash was glad the other's had chosen Meowth, if there is one thing a dragon values more than anything it's its pride, and what better way to destroy that than beating it with a Pokémon it's species considers weak.

"Come on Gare-Bare you've got the first move."

Ash was trying to get under Gary's skin.

"Shut the hell up you loser, Garchomp use Dragon Claw."

Mission accomplished "Meowth match it with Slash, then use Water Pulse and make it eat dirt with Iron Tail."

The claws clashed looking even, but it was just a façade on Meowth's part so he could charge the Water Pulse. He fired knocking the dragon away, he then jumped in the air his tail shimmering silver and slammed it down Garchomp's head, smashing him into the ground. Both Pokémon and trainer yawned looking extremely bored.

Gary was seriously pissed off now "Garchomp use Sandstorm and then Earthquake."

Sand began swirling around until it covered the battlefield and hid Garchomp from view, the ground then started shaking but the tremors were nowhere near as powerful as Charizard's. Meowth didn't even budge the attack not even bothering him.

"If you think some sand will save you Gary then you're sorely mistaken, Meowth use Aura vision, when you find Garchomp use Giga Impact, then when you knock him back use Rain Dance."

"Garchomp use Dragon Rush."

Meowth closed his eyes and everything took a blue hue, making it easy to spot the hiding dragon, he began charging at him gaining a lot of momentum. The dragon saw the cat charging towards him and shot off towards him confident in his victory. The two clashed and Garchomp was sent flying out of the Sand Storm and landing in front of Gary, he then saw a blue orb being fired into the sky making it rain and getting rid of the sand.

"Garchomp crush him with Draco Meteor." Garchomp smirked he knew that Meowth wouldn't be able to survive his Draco Meteor.

"Counter Shield."

Garchomp flew into the air and fired the deadly attack while Meowth got on his back and began spinning sending lightning into the air. The Meteor started raining towards Earth but were either deflected or destroyed entirely by the Counter Shield. Garchomp looked down his most powerful attack had been stopped... by a cat, his spirit crushed he descended to the ground.

Ash looked on proud that his plan had worked, he saw the dejected dragon across from him, Ash decided to end it, there was no fun to be had now, he'd broken the dragon and that was more than any attack could ever do.

"Meowth put him out of his misery use Night Fury Slash."

"Garchomp Dragon Rush NOW!"

Meowth charged forwards his claws turning black he began his relentless assault, while Garchomp stood there taking it. The number of hits combined with the high critical hit chance meant that Garchomp fainted not long after.

"Garchomp is unable to battle, trainers choose your last Pokémon."

Gary was struggling to choose which Pokémon he should use, no matter which one it was going to be at a disadvantage against one of Hayashi's Pokémon.

Ash had Primeape on the field ready for battle "Hey, I don't have all day, could you hurry up over there."

"That's it I'll show you a real fighting type, destroy him Infernape."

Infernape. His betrayal hurt more than several of Ash's other pokemon, because he had done so much for fire monkey after Paul Released him. This day he'd feel the pain that Ash had felt 6 years ago.

"Infernape use Sunny Day to get rid of the rain then charge in with Mach Punch."

"Block it and use Focus Punch, then throw it into the air and use Focus Blast."

The clouds cleared and the sun was shining again, Infernape then charged at Primeape throwing his fist forward confident he would connect, but his fist was caught in Primeape's grasp and could nothing to stop the punch that was landed to his abdomen winding him, Primeape then threw him into the sky and fired a Focus Blast which exploded on impact and caused Infernape to slam into the ground.

Infernape punched the ground, he would not be beaten by his old trainer, especially not this easily. He got to his feet and was ready to battle.

"Fine if close range won't work we'll fight you at range Infernape use Flamethrower."

"Counter with Thunderbolt, charge at him and use Close Combat."

Infernape shot a burst of flames at Primeape, and a lightning bolt arched off the P1 Champion. The attacks collided causing an explosion hiding the battlefield from view. Primeape charged through the smoke and began hitting Infernape with a barrage of punches and kicks, he managed to block a few but was pummeled by the furious assault.

When the smoke cleared all the audience saw was Primeape standing in front of his trainer not even breathing heavily and Infernape who was down on one knee, looking completely exhausted.

Infernape ran at Primeape readying his own Close Combat, he didn't need Gary to win, if anything he was holding him back.

Ash gave Primeape a 'go have fun' look. Primeape waited until Infernape was just in front of him and used Reversal tripping the fire monkey causing him to fall flat on his face. Infernape heard Primeape laughing at him, he tried punching him again but his fists were caught and Primeape spun him around and eventually threw him at the wall, he collapsed landing on his hands and knees.

Infernape looked up and saw Primeape's fists glowing, assuming he was about to get hit by either a dual Focus Punch or a Close Combat he charged a Mach Punch hoping to maybe hit him first. But Primeape wasn't advancing, he slammed his fists into the ground turning the battlefield to rubble, it was then that Infernape realised what his fellow fighting type was planning and had no time to dodge the numerous boulders now being tossed his way.

When Primeape finally got bored, he dragged the motionless Infernape out of the rubble.

"Infernape is unable to battle, Takeo Hayashi is the winner and will advance to the third round."

Gary fell to his knees he'd never been beaten that badly before, meanwhile 6 people in the crowd were suddenly feeling less confident about being able to defeat Takeo.

Ash smirked seeing the soul destroyed look on Gary's face.

He muttered to himself "1 down 6 to go."

He turned around and left the stadium, he began walking towards stadium 4 to see Anabel.

* * *

Notes

So Gary is eliminated, well done those who guessed right.

Who will Ash's next victim be?

May, Dawn and Tracey will get crushed too it just won't be in the tournament.

Do you think Ash's old Pokémon were punished enough?

Combo Move

Night Fury Slash - Night Slash + Fury Swipes


	7. Anabel's comeback

I want to thank all the people who follow/favourite this story, if someone had told me that in just over a week I would have this much support I'd have laughed and asked what they had been taking.

But seriously guys your support has been great and I really appreciate it. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 7 hope you enjoy

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

Ash arrived at stadium 4 in a few minutes, he walked inside and saw Anabel's match was still going on. Both her and Hyaki had 1 Pokémon left each, Anabel had Espeon and Hyaki had Houndoom, the fire type launched a Flamethrower at Espeon who managed to dodge it but there was only centimetres in it.

Down on the battlefield Anabel was hanging her head almost resigned to her fate all the while thinking 'I'm sorry Ash I've let you down.'

Ash saw the state she was in and decided to do something drastic, he ran towards the announcers box, broke in and grabbed 1 of the mics. He knew he didn't have much time before security got here, so he got straight to the point.

"Anabel." Her head shot up knowing that was Ash's voice.

"I know you can do this, I believe in you, your Pokémon believe in you, now win this match." Ash then made his escape.

She smiled then looked to Espeon who nodded at her showing she agreed with Ash, confidence filled Anabel.

"Houndoom finish this use Iron Tail." It's whip like tail shimmered silver and he began charged at Espeon.

"Use Quick Attack to dodge, then use Dig."

Houndoom leapt in the air and aimed his tail to hit Espeon, but just hit the ground causing stones to fly everywhere, meanwhile Espeon had sped away then dug underground. Houndoom looked around confused not knowing where it's opponent would appear from, he began preparing himself for when Espeon reappeared.

"Now hit Houndoom with Signal Beam, then use Calm Mind."

Espeon burst out of the floor and shot the bug type move, it knocked Houndoom back and caused it to start staggering around showing it was confused. Espeon closed it's eyes and began focussing and cleared her mind increasing her power.

"Houndoom snap out of it, use Dark Pulse."

"Use Psychic to make a shield out of the rubble on the battlefield."

Houndoom shook his head and snapped out of the confusion and fired the dark wave of energy at Espeon, but she'd had enough time to levitate the rocks on the field to create a wall in front of herself which blocked his attack.

"Now throw the rocks at Houndoom then use Hyper Beam."

"Fire your own Hyper Beam."

The rocks pelted Houndoom, doing some damage but mainly distracting him from charging his attack. Espeon fired her Hyper Beam while Houndoom was recovering, giving Houndoom little time to charge his own, he managed to fire but the attacks collided close to him, causing him to be caught in the explosion. The battlefield showed a very tired Espeon and a fainted Houndoom.

"Houndoom is unable to battle, Anabel wins."

Anabel hugged Espeon thanking her for her performance, she returned her and looked to Hyaki, he looked shocked. He couldn't believe he'd lost, he was so sure of his victory. The 2 trainers walked towards each other.

"Well done Anabel, you managed to beat me again." He sounded devastated

"You'd have beaten me if it hadn't been for the pep talk."

"Well next time I'll beat you."

"I look forward to it."

The crowd applauded the trainers for such a great battle and for the sportsmanship they showed.

Anabel walked out the stadium smiling, proud and ecstatic that she'd managed to win.

"Impressive, I knew you could do it." Ash walked out from the corner he was hiding behind

"It's thanks to you that I managed to pull it off." She walked over to him and pressed her lips to his when they broke for air Ash replied.

"I only said what me and the Pokémon were thinking. You were the one who won that battle, I just nudged you in the right direction."

"So Takeo how was your battle?"

Ash smirked "Well let's just say that Gary got what was coming too him. If we see him you can see the look on his face and that will tell you everything"

"Hey what da hell boss you left me behind in dat stadium."

"Sorry Meowth I was just trying to ditch security."

"Forget it, I'm in a good mood after embarrassing Garchomp."

"Thanks, now let's get to the Pokémon centre, so we can get Anabel's Pokémon healed."

Meowth took his usual spot on Ash's shoulder and the trio began walking, hoping to catch a glimpse of Gary.

* * *

When they arrived at the Pokémon centre they spotted him sat at a table looking total despondent, May, Dawn and Tracey trying to console him, the other's were presumably having their matches now. Anabel looked at him thinking 'Ash must have really decimated him'.

They walked up to Nurse Joy ignoring the glares thrown their way, Anabel handed her pokeballs to Nurse Joy and they sat down at 1 of the tables as far away from them as physically possible. Silence took over as they waited for her pokemon to heal.

After what felt like hours Nurse Joy called out that Anabel's pokemon had been healed, she picked up her Pokémon and as Ash and Anabel went to leave, Nurse Joy stopped them before they left and said.

"I was told to inform all competitors that the next round will be double battles and each trainer has 4 pokemon."

The pair thanked Nurse Joy, then they turned and left the Pokémon centre completely ignoring the traitors again. Richie was approaching the pokemon centre when he saw them leaving he yelled out to them, getting their attention.

"Hey guys how did your battles go?"

"Go inside and look at Gary's face, that will tell you all you need to know."

"So you destroyed him, good job. What about you Anabel how did you do?"

"I managed to just pull off a win, how was your match?"

"I won but that Nando guy pissed me off he just kept putting my Pokémon to sleep, good thing Zippo knew Sleep Talk. But I'm glad we're all still in the tournament, anyway guys I'll see you."

"Richie how about you and Paul meet us here tomorrow at 10am?"

"Sure Takeo sounds good, see you tomorrow."

Richie walked away waving until he was inside the Pokémon centre, he saw Gary hunched over in his seat, with a broken look on his face.

He whispered to Sparky "Ash really crushed him didn't he."

"Raichu Rai" Sparky replied as he nodded.

* * *

Outside Ash and Anabel began walking towards the clearing, when they got there they sent out all their Pokémon, who were quick to congratulate the battlers and get a very detailed description of the battle against Gary. Charizard was a little annoyed that he hadn't fought 1 of the treacherous Pokémon.

The trainers watched their Pokémon interacting with smiles on their faces. The majority of them were sparring. However they did see the 2 Eeveelutions lying side by side in the shade of some trees, their tails wrapped around each other, similar to how Absol and Luxray were doing not to far from them. They also noticed Gallade talking to Gardevoir and she began blushing. Flygon watched, happy for the one he had come to see as a daughter, however he made a promise to himself that if Gallade ever hurt her he would hunt him down and kill him. Ash looked on happy that some of his Pokémon were finding the same happiness he had found with Anabel.

As night approached Ash and Anabel made their way to the hotel, again leaving their pokemon in the clearing to relax. The lights iluminating the city made it look quite beautiful, they took their time enjoying the sights and enjoying each other's company. They eventually reached the hotel, went up to their room and had another dream filled night in the embrace of the 1 they loved.

* * *

In the morning Ash and Anabel met up with Richie and Paul and began walking towards the Pokémon centre, when they arrived they walked to the main desk and the group were given their schedules and examined them.

Paul had been matched against Brandon, giving him the opportunity to finally beat him. Richie's opponent was Ethan, the winner of this years Silver Conference, Anabel was due to battle Sabrina and Ash had got another 1 of the traitors.

The group left the Pokémon centre and went off to do what they wanted for the day, Richie was going off to strategize for his match, Paul was going to train (no surprise there) while Ash and Anabel went to tell their Pokémon the good news.

When the Pokémon saw their trainers returning they stopped what they were doing and went to them, Anabel's looked excited to be facing another Psychic user and when Ash showed his Pokémon the schedule, they all looked ready to thrash another traitor.

"So who wants to battle?"

* * *

Notes

Next chapter another traitor falls, which 1 will it be?

And which 4 Pokémon will Ash choose for this round?

I've had some people saying about how over powered Ash seems, don't worry once the traitors are out of the way Ash will have tougher battles.

There is now a poll on my profile - Should any of Ash's old Pokémon be forgiven? I am making a poll on this because a few people I know who are reading this have suggested that idea. I will close the poll once I upload the chapter that has the last of the traitors being beaten by Ash.


	8. A Waterflower wilts

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 8 hope you enjoy

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the Pokémon centre 3 traitors are waiting for their schedule for the next round, however a certain yellow rodent was missing. Pikachu had spotted the man he believed to be Ash Ketchum going into the forest as they were arriving, and when no one was looking started following him so he could find out the truth. Pikachu saw him stop in a clearing with a group of Pokémon approaching.

Pikachu had hidden behind a tree hoping that he wouldn't be spotted, he overhead the man saying about defeating another traitor. He'd been so engrossed with the conversation that he hadn't noticed a presence behind him until he was lifted in the air and turned to look at his assailant, fear filled Pikachu as he remebered this Pokémon and knew what he was capable of.

"You are not welcome here rat, this is your only warning come here again and you won't leave."

A blue glow surrounded them both and Pikachu was catapulted through the air by a powerful Psychic blast, he went crashing into the Pokémon centre his last thought before he lost consciousness was.

"It must be Ash if he's there."

Ash had known Pikachu had been following them as he had sensed his Aura but he had decided to leave him to the Psychic type who sent him a pretty clear message which pleased all of Ash's Pokémon.

"Good job my friend."

"It was my pleasure Ash, I would like to return to the Pokeball now."

He disappeared returning to the ball on Ash's necklace. Anabel and her Pokémon had seen the entire thing, and they were all completely speechless, having never seen a Pokémon like that.

"Ash who was that?"

"Remember when I told you about Team Rocket?" Anabel nodded.

"Well I didn't tell you everything. You see."

* * *

_Flashback (3 years ago)_

_Ash had just placed the last of the explosive devices and was walking back towards the elevator when he noticed a dark room that he hadn't entered._

_He walked down the steps into the darkness though visibility was low he could make out what looked to be a torture rack as well as several other pain inflicting devices. He saw several cages hanging from the ceiling which were presumably where the prisoners were kept._

_Ash walked further into the room and then saw the outline of a body in the corner of the room, he rushed towards it and saw someone he hadn't seen for several years, Mewtwo. He was chained to the walls and had clearly suffered several injuries from the cruel devices in the room._

_"Mewtwo, can you hear me?"_

_The clone of Mew manged to open his eyes, seeing a familiar face in front of him._

_He was able to rasp a single word before he passed out "Ash."_

_Ash knew he only had 1 choice, he took a Pokeball off his belt and captured him._

_"We'd better hurry and beat Giovanni, Meowth I don't know how long Mewtwo will last without medical attention."_

_After Ash had handed Giovanni in he used Gardevoir to Teleport them to a healer Ash had met up with shortly after he began his search for Team Rocket. It took several weeks until Mewtwo was fully healed, but when he was Ash gave Mewtwo the chance to leave but he declined choosing to remain with Ash._

_Flashback over_

* * *

Ash didn't go into detail about the severity of Mewtwo's injuries or the mutilated corpses of Pokémon and humans that had littered the floor, as they were the stuff of nightmares, which had haunted him for a long time.

"That's horrific, how can someone be so cruel?" Anabel looked mortified.

Ash wrapped her in a hug. "Giovanni is a very sick and twisted man, but he will never harm anyone again. And I will never let anyone hurt you or the other's"

She felt safe in his arms. "I know Ash, I know."

Anabel then thought of a question that had been nagging at her for a while "When are you planning on revealing yourself Ash?"

"Actually I need to talk to Scott about that as I think that now is the right time, I'm tired of hiding who I am."

They spent the afternoon preparing for their matches tomorrow, Anabel's Pokémon weren't experienced in double battle's so they worked on the synergy needed. Gallade and Alakazam took to the different battle style no problem, the main 1 who struggled was Raikou who was so used to fighting alone that he wasn't great at teamwork, but he was improving.

Ash was thinking about asking Sabrina how Haunter was, although he had never truly owned him, he was still interested in how he was doing as he had some fond memories of the short time they spent together.

When the Pokémon were getting tired Ash and Anabel decided to give them a rest and returned to the hotel where they saw Scott sat in the dining area.

"Anabel you go to the room I'll go talk to Scott."

"Okay Ash just don't be too long."

Ash walked into the dining area which was empty except for Scott and a few other people scattered around. Scott saw Ash and waved him over.

"Hey Takeo how are you?"

"Scott I want to talk to you about my match tomorrow."

* * *

The next day Ash walked into the stadium and went to his box, excited to destroy the traitor opposite him. He couldn't wait to see the look on their face when his identity was revealed.

"This match is a double battle, each trainer has 4 Pokémon. In the green box we have the Cerulean City Gym Leader Misty Waterflower and her opponent Takeo Hayashi has decided to reveal his true identity, his real name is Ash Ketchum."

Ash lowered his hood and the look on Misty's face was priceless, her jaw had dropped. The crowd had been silenced, they couldn't believe he was finally back after all these years.

"Ash Ketchum chooses his Pokémon first"

"Glaceon, Flygon time to annihilate her." The two Pokémon appeared growling at the red-headed traitor.

"Let's do this Ash."

Misty was still stunned at the revelation that Takeo Hayashi the man who had humiliated Gary was actually Ash Ketchum the weak kid that they gotten rid of years ago.

"Hey psycho, can you hurry up and choose which Pokémon I'm gonna crush, I don't have all day."

This pissed her off "Shut the fuck up Ketchum, I'll show you that you are just as weak as you were 6 years ago, Misty calls Lapras and Politoad."

Politoad was happily stood there clapping, but the Lapras was staring at Ash. He met her gaze and his eyes widened in realisation.

"Lapras is that you?"

"Ash? Help me please."

Ash was furious now, he could tell that Lapras had been abused by the pleading in her voice and he would make Misty pay.

"That's it Misty now I'm pissed, I know you've hurt Lapras and for that you will pay!"

"Shut up Ketchum, Lapras use Ice Beam." Lapras shook her head refusing to fight.

"You useless Pokémon you deserve to be with him, you're as pathetic as he is."

Misty stamped on Lapras' Pokeball, Ash wasted no time getting one of his own out and capturing her.

The referee was about to take Misty down to 3 Pokémon until Ash interrupted saying to let her choose a new one instead.

"You'll regret that Ketchum. Misty calls Feraligatr"

Another Pokémon from his past, it's a shame Ash always had a soft spot the fun-loving Totodile.

"Both of you use Hydro Pump."

"Glaceon dodge with Dig then use Shadow Ball and Flygon strafe to the right and hit Politoad with Dragon Pulse."

Glaceon dug underground, the burst of water flying harmlessly over the hole, she reappeared behind a stunned Feraligatr and hit him in the back with a sphere of dark energy causing him to go sprawling. Meanwhile Flygon had easily dodged the stream of water headed his way and fired his Dragon Pulse, the shock waves blasting Politoed into the wall.

"Get up and use Aqua Jet on Flygon and Politoed use Ice Beam."

"Oh hell no, you are not using my moves against me. Flygon use Iron Tail and Glaceon use Frost Smash"

Feraligatr shot off surrounded with water, Politoad then fired an Ice Beam at him freezing it solid as he continued towards the dragon, but this left Politoad unable to defend itself from the charging Eeveelution who slammed into him knocking him to he ground. Seconds before Feraligatr was about to hit the dragon, Flygon flipped in the air slamming his tail into Feraligatr shattering the ice and sending him crashing to the ground, landing directly on top of Politoad.

"Time to Finish this, Flygon Draco Meteor and Glaceon use Blizzard."

Misty could only watch as the frozen meteors smashed into her defenceless Pokémon, when the barrage had finished, both of Misty's Pokémon had fainted from the immensely powerful attacks.

"Both Feraligatr and Politoad are unable to battle. Choose your Pokémon."

Ash was smirking which was infuriating her even more.

"Misty calls Togekiss and Floatzel."

So Buizel had joined Misty too, well it's his turn to be embarrassed.

"Glaceon and Flygon return, Scizor and Blastoise it's your turn, take care of Togekiss quick, then you guys can have fun with Floatzel."

"Togekiss Aura Sphere at Scizor and Floatzel hit Blastoise with a Brick Break."

"Scizor return it with Metal Claw then charge her and use Bullet Punch and Blastoise match his Brick Break with your own then hit him with a Mega Punch."

Togekiss formed an orb of blue energy and propelled it towards Scizor who's claws had taken a silver sheen, he hit the orb sending it flying back at Togekiss, striking her left wing, damaging it and causing her to descend slightly, she looked up to see the red bug and was assaulted by a series of swift punches.

Down on the ground Floatzel and Blastoise had met, their fists clashing, matching one another, then Blastoise drew his left arm back and hit the weasel with a Mega Punch which knocked him back.

"Togekiss use Hyper Beam and Floatzel use Aqua Tail."

"Blastoise use Hydro Cannon to counter Togekiss and Scizor grab Floatzel's tails in your claws and crush them."

The 2 powerful moves clashed, but the jets of water were pushing Togekiss back until she was finally overpowered and was slammed straight into the arena wall by the attack. It was all too much for her and she fainted leaving Misty with just Floatzel.

Floatzel ran at Scizor his tails looked to be surrounded with water, he swung them at the bug expecting to land a significant hit, but cried out in agony when Scizor caught his tails and started crushing them, the sound of snapping bones could be heard around the stadium. Scizor kept hold of Floatzel's tails and began slamming him into the ground, he tried fighting back but the intense pain shooting through his tails made it difficult to focus, it made him feel weak and worthless.

Scizor finally got bored of humiliating the weasel and threw him at Blastoise who had readied a Skull Bash, with his head down he charged at Floatzel, when they collided Floatzel was sent crashing back to Scizor who raised his arm and smashed it down on his skull, slamming him to the ground and knocking him out.

"Floatzel is unable to battle, Ash Ketchum wins.

The stadium erupted with cheers and applause for Ash.

Misty couldn't believe she'd been humiliated so badly by Ash Ketchum. Ash returned his Pokémon and walked over to the dejected traitor opposite him.

"I told you you'd pay for what you've done, and it's not over for you yet, when the Pokémon League see's what you've done to Lapras they'll take the Gym from you and maybe even your Pokémon too."

Misty broke down crying knowing what he said is true, she'd let her anger get the better of her as usual and this time it could cost her the things she cares about more than anything. Ash stood over her looking triumphant.

"Two down, five to go."

Ash walked down the tunnel to leave the stadium fully intent on going back to the clearing to have his reunion with Lapras and find out if she was okay and why she was with Misty.

* * *

Notes

Misty has fallen to Ash, who's next? - Remember Dawn, May and Tracey are also going to feel Ash's wrath.

It was hard choosing between Brock and Misty for this chapter, I chose Misty just because I liked the idea of Lapras being back on Ash's team.

Ash now has Lapras back. But how did she end up with Misty?

Moves

Frost Smash - Equivalent of Flare Blitz, Volt Tackle etc.


	9. OC Request

Sorry guys this isn't a new chapter. This is just to say that I am accepting OC's for the tournament. I am asking for 2 reasons.

1. I like to get you guys involved in the story.

2. It makes things a little easier for me and let's me get chapters done quicker.

This is the criteria for the characters.

Name:

Age:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Appearance:

Pokémon:

Any Achievements:

Personality/Attitude:

Have they met Ash in the past 6 years? If so how?(Optional):

I will choose a few for the story and will the name of the person who suggested the character at the end of the chapter. If your character isn't used don't worry I will use it in any story i might write after this 1

Chapter 9 will be up tomorrow night.


	10. Deception and guilt

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

The OC's you guys have submitted are awesome I am finding it extremely hard to choose which ones to use.

Here's chapter 9 hope you enjoy

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

When Ash got to the clearing he sent Lapras out so he could talk to her.

"Hey Lapras are you okay." Concern evident in his eyes.

"Better now, thanks Ash."

"How did you end up with Misty? Last time I saw you, you had gone back to your family."

"Well it was like this."

* * *

_Flashback (Approx 5 and a half years ago)_

_Lapras is happily swimming with the rest of her family, however she missed her old trainer and was wondering how he was doing._

_A boat is speeding towards the them, several of the Lapras went in front of the rest taking up a defensive position in case the people coming were threats. As the boat neared she recognised the 2 humans, she told the rest of them to stand down as they were no threat._

_She went forward to the boat to see them, she was curious about why Ash was not with them. Misty began talking._

_"Lapras we need your help Ash is in trouble, I need to put you in a poke ball to bring you."_

_Lapras was shocked that her former trainer was in danger, she would do everything she could to help him. Lapras said her goodbyes to her family, and approached Misty tapping her head on the poke ball she had in her hand. She never saw the sinister smirk that was now on Misty's face._

_"Let's go Tracey, we got what we came for."_

_Flashback over _

* * *

"Soon after I found out that I had been tricked by her, she mocked me while telling me of what they did to you, I refused to fight for her when she wanted me too, then she'd get her Lanturn to shock me when I disobeyed."

Ash couldn't believe how cruel Misty had become, he also felt miserable that another person he cared about had been hurt.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that Lapras, I should have known they'd go after you once I left."

"It's not your fault Ash, I don't blame you."

"Thanks Lapras." He hugged his friend glad to have her back. He then thought of something that troubled him.

"Oh Arceus if they went after you that means they could have gone for Pidgeot too, do you know if any other pokemon with them were being treated as you were?."

"I'm sorry Ash but I don't know I was never out long enough to talk to the other's."

"That's alright Lapras. I'd better take you to Nurse Joy to check if you've had any permanenet damage don to you."

Ash returned her to the pokeball and began walking to the Pokémon centre, his thoughts turned to Pidgeot and the possibility of 1 of the traitors treating her the same way, before he realised it he'd made it to the Pokémon centre.

He walked inside and noticed the T.V was on, he looked and saw his battle with Misty was the big news, showing several moments from the battle, he listened to the reporter.

"Today Takeo Hayashi revealed himself to be Ash Ketchum, the trainer who mysteriously vanished 6 years ago after his defeat in the Sinnoh League. He battled Misty Waterflower, easily beating her and progressing to the next round."

Ash was a little annoyed that they were implying that his loss to Tobias was the cause for his disappearance, he kept watching and saw Misty smashing Lapras' pokeball.

"Moments after the battle ended Ms Waterflower was arrested, there is no more news on the situation yet but we will keep you up to date. In other news another tournament favourite was eliminated earlier, Paul Shinji defeated the Pyramid King Brandon in a very impressive performance taking down his Regice, Regirock, Registeel and Regigigas losing only two of his Pokémon. And the winner of the Indigo League Richie Hiroshi has just defeated the winner of the Silver Conference Ethan."

Ash was impressed that Paul had beaten Brandon when he was using all 4 of the Regi's, and was hoping to get a match against him soon. He turned his attention from the T.V remembering why he was here, he went up to Nurse Joy.

"Hey can you take a look at Lapras for me, she has been abused by Ms Waterflower over the past 5 years and I wanna make sure she's okay."

"Okay I'll take a look at her, it may take a while."

"Nurse Joy can I leave her here with you while I go see if I can find a friend of mine?

She nodded, Ash turned around to leave, just as he was about to go outside he called out to Nurse Joy

"By the way don't tell anyone's she's her, if you do it could put her in danger."

* * *

He was walking outside his thoughts still on Pidgeot and Lapras, when he saw Anabel and Sabrina headed his way. He walked up to the pair.

"Hey so how did your match go."

"Anabel won, her Espeon just managed to outlast Alakazam."

"It was a very close battle Sabrina I hope we can have another some day."

"I'd enjoy that, Farewell you two, I'm going to go and get ready to leave."

"Wait Sabrina. I was just wondering how Haunter was doing."

"Why don't you ask him."

The ghost type appeared next to Ash and a bomb exploded in his face. He started laughing, making Ash think about some fond memories.

"Hey Ash."

"Hi Haunter, I see you're still the prankster I knew, are you still having fun with Sabrina?"

"Yeah. She's still a bit boring sometimes though"

She shot a glare at the ghost.

"Sorry I haven't come to visit you, I will make time to come see you in the future."

Haunter nodded happy that he'd seen his old friend and was looking forward to their next meeting. He disappeared into thin air again and Sabrina went her separate way from Ash and Anabel.

"Congratulations on winning Anabel. I'm sorry I didn't get to see your match but I was re-united with Lapras and have spent some time with her."

"Thanks Ash and that's okay, but I thought she was in the Orange Islands, how did she get here."

"I'll tell you on the way to the Pokémon centre."

They began walking to the Pokémon centre, Ash telling Anabel everything he'd heard from Lapras. She was shocked that Lapras had gone through so much in the last 5 years. When they arrived they walked inside and went upto Nurse Joy and Anabel handed her pokeballs to her. Ash asked if Lapras was ready and was told that she only needed to do a couple more tests.

They went and sat at a table and talked about their battles while they waited for the Pokemon to be healed, Ash was really impressed with some of the strategies she had come up with to defeat Sabrina. They lost track of time and Nurse Joy called out their names.

"Well Ash it seems that there is no permanent damage to Lapras."

"That's a relief thanks Nurse Joy."

Anabel and Ash left the Pokémon centre, walking to the clearing so Lapras could meet everyone, Ash let out all his Pokemon, Charizard and Blastoise immediately having their reunion. She was introduced to everyone of Anabel's and Ash's Pokémon, she froze Meowth with Ice Beam when she heard him talk, which caused everyone to laugh at the cat. Ash got Charizard to melt the ice and he told Lapras about Team Rocket, she apologised to Meowth repeatedly afterwards.

"Forget it, let's just call dat payback for everything I did to you guys in da Orange Islands."

Lapras seemed happy with that, she was getting along with the other's really well, especially Milotic possibly due to them both suffering abuse in the past. Ash called Charizard over to him.

"Charizard I need your help, Misty tricked Lapras into joining her claiming I was in danger. I want you to go and see if you can find Pidgeot in the forests around Route 1."

"Sure Ash."

Charizard shot off quickly flying south, Ash was praying that he'd find her there.

"Hey Ash where is Charizard going."

Anabel asked, confused by his departure.

"I asked him to see if pidgeot is still with the flock."

"Don't worry I'm sure she's fine."

"I hope you're right Anabel."

* * *

Time skip (2 Hours)

Charizard spotted the forest Ash had left Pidgeot in. He landed and was surrounded by 6 Pidgeot, none of them were the 1 he was looking for though.

"Why are you here intruder?"

"I am looking for the Pidgeot that was left here several years ago by my trainer to protect your flock."

"She left many years ago, a man who looked to have no eyes came and took her from us, claiming her trainer was in trouble."

Charizard's head dropped, saddened that another of his friends had suffered the same fate as Lapras.

"Thanks, I'll leave you now."

He took off to give Ash the bad news.

* * *

Time skip (2 more hours)

Ash had been pacing back and forth worried sick for Pidgeot, he sensed Charizard headed their way. He landed in front of him, Ash was about to ask Charizard what he'd found but he saw the look in his eyes and that told Ash everything he need to know.

"Fuck!"

He was on knees seconds later hitting the ground.

"Those fuckers, they got her too. Damn it I failed another person I care about."

First Anabel, then Lapras and now Pidgeot, how many more would suffer because of him. He felt Anabel wrap her arms around him, her presence was calming but did nothing to quell the intense pain and sense of guilt in him. His Pokémon looked on, sad that he blamed himself and knew that he would keep doing so, even if Pidgeot herself said it wasn't his fault.

"Who took her?"

"The pervert did, claiming the same bullshit that bitch Misty had said to Lapras."

Silence took over as they all thought about Pidgeot, Ash spoke up.

"How are we going to get her back?"

Ash began plotting, but was interrupted by Anabel.

"Listen Ash we can think about this tomorrow after we get our schedule's for the next round, that way you can talk with Paul and Richie about this, besides it's too late to be thinking of something now."

"Okay Anabel, I guess you're right."

It had gotten late so they went back to the hotel, leaving their Pokémon in the clearing. That night Ash was haunted with nightmares of Pidgeot being tortured by Brock and the other's.

* * *

Notes

So who's next on Ash's hit list? I think this one is a little obvious.

What has been done to Pidgeot? What condition will she be in when Ash finds her?

Sorry Haunter isn't going with Ash, I never saw Haunter as a battler and I think he would be happier staying with Sabrina and being a prankster.

A new poll is up on my profile with a selection of Pokémon who might be allowed back.


	11. Freeing a trapped bird

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 10 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

The next morning Ash and Anabel are walking to the Pokémon centre to pick up their schedule's for this round and meet up with Paul and Richie so they can discuss the best course of action to take against Brock. When the building was in sight Ash noticed Richie and Paul waiting them for them.

"About time you showed."

"Good morning to you to Paul, good win against Brandon."

"It was a lot easier than I expected, I was hoping he'd give me a challenge, well maybe this round I'll get someone worth my time."

Ash turned his attention to Richie.

"And I saw you beat that Ethan easily."

"Yeah I did, anyway how's Lapras I saw what happened yesterday?"

"Considering everything Misty's put her through in the last 5 years she's doing well."

"So what was she doing with that psychotic bitch."

"She tricked her into thinking I was in trouble, and Brock's done the same thing to Pidgeot, let's see if any of us drew him this round if so that'll things a lot easier, if not we'll have to come up with a plan to get her back."

Richie and Paul were enraged at what those scum had done.

They walked inside and up to Nurse Joy, she handed each of them their schedules telling them that this round had the same rules as the last, they nodded and looked at who they'd be fighting. Anabel had been drawn against Lucy making it a battle between the last Brains in the tournament, Richie was going to be battling Agatha and Paul was up against Bertha. Ash broke the silence.

"Looks like we won't be needing that plan."

They left the Pokémon centre, Paul and Richie said they were going to have some practice matches to prepare for tomorrow, Ash and Anabel went to the clearing.

"Listen everyone tomorrow we're against Brock, so we can save Pidgeot from him."

Everyone looked relieved that they'd be able to help Pidgeot relatively easily. Ash pointed to 3 of his Pokémon.

"I'm using you 3 against Brock."

"Ash you need 4 Pokémon for this round."

"Pidgeot will be my fourth."

* * *

The next day Ash walked into the stadium determined to save Pidgeot no matter the cost. He saw the man he once saw as a brother across from him.

"This match is a double battle, each trainer has 4 Pokémon. In the Green box we have Brock Slate the Pewter City Gym Leader and in the Red we have Ash Ketchum, Green side shall choose his Pokémon first."

"Go Golem and Pidgeot."

'"Lucario, Luxray let's save our friend"

"So you remember Pidgeot, well now she fights for me, Golem use Earthquake and Pidgeot use Aerial Ace on Lucario."

"Both of you use Magnet Rise, then Luxray use Signal Beam on Golem and Lucario brace for impact."

Golem stomped the ground expecting to deal massive damage to his opponents, but they were levitating in the air completely unharmed, Luxray then fired the Signal Beam dealing some damage but not confusing his target. Meanwhile Pidgeot shot towards Lucario at an incredible speed, Lucario extended his arms and grabbed hold of the flying type.

"Pidgeot it's me Ash, come on."

"Go ahead plead all you want, it will do you no good."

Ash wondered what he meant, but then saw the collar around Pidgeot's neck, he had seen similar one's several times before while he was tracking down Team Rocket. It took control of whoever was wearing it, basically taking away their free will and the owner of the collar had complete control over the wearer.

"Pidgeot break away and use Air Cutter and Golem use Hyper Beam"

"Luxray use your Hyper Beam and Lucario use your Aura shield."

Both Pokemon formed a Hyper Beam and fired, Luxray's was much bigger easily overpowering Golem and causing some major damage, he managed to stand again but he was clearly on his last legs. As this was happening Lucario had crossed his arms in front of him creating a shield which protected himself from the violent winds being shot his way.

"Guys switch targets, Lucario use Frozen Combat and Luxray use Thunderbolt and manipulate so it hits the collar around Pidgeot's neck we don't want to hurt her."

"Both of you dodge."

Lucario leapt down and charged at Golem both fists became encased in ice, Golem who is slow at the best of times had no chance to dodge the relentless assault he was being subjected to, the sheer ferocity of the attack was too much for the already injured Golem and he fainted. Pidgeot's flying speed and agility was making her difficult to hit as Luxray was trying to cause as little damage to Pidgeot as possible, eventually Luxray managed to predict where she was going to be and arced his Thunderbolt, striking the collar causing the circuits to overload, and the collar disintegrated.

Pidgeot now free from the collar's control looked down and saw Ash, she flew to him and nuzzled him. Ash smiled happy to have his friend back

"Seems that Pidgeot is no longer under your control Brock."

"You may have destroyed the collar but she's still mine

Brock took out Pidgeot's pokeball to return her, he raised his arm but then a blue glow surrounded the pokeball and it shattered into pieces.

'Good job Mewtwo'

'It was no problem'

Brock looked at the shards of the pokeball, angry that he'd lost his best pokemon.

"You'll pay for that Ketchum."

"I don't think I will, hey Pidgeot do you wanna battle with me again."

She nodded happily, Ash took out a spare pokeball and she tapped it with her beak. The board showed that Brock was now down to 2 pokemon.

"Go Torterra and Swampert."

"Return you two, now time for revenge Pidgeot and Charizard."

Ash looked to Charizard.

"Okay you've got Torterra, I know you were pissed off about not fighting one of the tracherous pokemon before so have fun. Me and Pidgeot will take Swampert."

Charizard nodded and smirked, he looked straight at Torterra who was shitting himself at the prospect of fighting him.

"Torterra use Energy Ball and Swampert use Hydro Pump on Charizard."

"Pidegeot use Air Slash to cut through the water then charge at him with Brave Bird."

Charizard knew what Torterra was about to do, he waited until the ball was formed and then fired a Flamethrower at it causing it to blow up in his face. Charizard then charged, both fist engulfed in flames and began bombarding Torterra with punches ensuring to cause as much pain as possible.

Meanwhile Pidgeot flew at the blast of water that had been headed for Charizard slicing straight through it, then hurtling straight at Swampert slamming into him and knocking him back the only thing stopping him from being propelled into the wall was that he had dug his feet into the ground taking some of the power out of the attack.

The two flying types broke off and landed in front of Ash.

"It's time to finish this guys."

Charizard looked dissapointed at this.

"Come on Charizard, I'll give you all the time you want against Pikachu, I want to make sure that the collar hasn't done any serious damage to her, we've seen the damage those things can do."

He nodded in understanding, he too wanted to make sure his friend was okay, and the prospect of having all the time he wanted to crush the rat convinced him.

"Alright Pidgeot use Hurricane, then finish Swampert with Hyper Beam and Charizard use Blast Burn."

"Torterra use Stone Edge and Swampert use Hydro Cannon."

Charizard took flight easily dodging the stones thrown his way, his feet glowed white and he landed on Torterra's back causing him to collapse under the power of the two Stomp attacks. Charizard opened his mouth and shot Torterra with an intense burst of flames, the grass type didn't have a chance and fainted instantly, burns all over his body and the tree on it's back was scorched and the leaves had turned to ash.

Pidgeot avoided the powerful water attack without a problem.

'She could challenge Charizard in terms of Aerial skill' he thought while watching her.

"Don't tell the lizard that or he'll burn you to a crisp."

Ash smiled at Mewtwo's words knowing that he was probably right.

She then began flapping her wings creating a fierce wind that sent the immobile Swampert flying straight into the wall, then she used all her built up anger from the past 5 years and put it into a Hyper Beam that hit Swampert who cried out in pain before fainting.

"Swampert and Torterra are unable to battle Ash Ketchum wins."

Brock was pissed off, he'd lost his best pokemon, been humiliated by Ketchum, he then realised it would be best if he tried to flee before people start asking about the collar. He turned to run but was confronted by a very angry looking Charizard. He then felt hands on his shoulders, he looked and saw 2 of the G-men.

"Did you really think you'd get away with what you've done Brock, that collar links you with Team Rocket. By the way say hi to Giovanni when you see him in jail."

Brock was dragging yelling various things at Ash.

"Another one bites the dust."

Ash returned his Pokemon and walked out the stadium, going to the Pokemon centre to get Pidgeot checked out. He walked inside and he saw someone he hadn't seen in 2 years, her head shot to the doors when she heard them open and her eyes lit up, she got up walked over to him and hugged him.

"Ash I've missed you."

"I've missed you too..."

* * *

Notes

So Brock has fallen (I bet none of you saw that coming) - Who's next?

It's looking like 2 of the pokemon Ash get's back have already been decided, it's very close for 3rd though.

Next chaper 2 of the OC's I have decided to use will appear.

I know Pidgeot may seem overpowered considering Brock had her, but my logic was that she had been with the flock for 3 years, where she would have had constant battles with the Fearow and his flock which would have been excellent training, but that's just my opinion.

Combo moves

Frozen Combat - Double Ice Punch + Close Combat


	12. Old friends and a new ally

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 11 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

"Mum"

He hugged his mother happy to see her again, he hadn't seen her since he'd left to train on Mt Coronet 2 years ago, he still kept in touch with her though but it was nice to her face to face again.

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd have watched the tournament on T.V"

"Well I saw you competing and I had to come see you. Why didn't you tell me you were participating in this?"

Ash dropped his head in shame, he'd gotten so wrapped up in getting his revenge on his former friends that he'd forgotten to just call his mother to tell her what was going on.

"I'm sorry, I got so caught up with them being here that I forgot."

"It's okay I understand how their presence could do that."

Ash smiled at his mother's forgiving nature.

"So how have you and Mimey been the last few months?"

"We've been fine, it's been quite interesting actually as a friend of yours came to see you a few weeks back and I said she should stay for a while."

"Who is it?"

"Turn around."

He turned around and saw a girl, she hadn't changed much in the past 2 and a half years she still had her shoulder-length black hair, her skin is lightly tanned, and she has dark green eyes, she had grown a bit probably standing around 5." She wrapped her arms around him.

"Ash, I was worried about you, I haven't heard from you in months."

Ash was happy to see Ariana again, after they met she'd become like a little sister to him.

"Hey Ariana, I've been fine there's no need to worry. How have you been?"

"I've been doing well, your mother has been very kind to me over the past few weeks and has even been helping me with my training for the Battle Frontier."

"You told me you were training your Pokémon to respond to whistles rather than verbal commands, how's it going?"

"We're getting much better I'm having to give verbal commands less and less and in a few months I think we'll have it perfected."

"That's great news, I'll just go hand Pidgeot to Nurse Joy so she can do a checkup on her and then we can properly catch up."

Ash walked away from them, he knew they were whispering something but couldn't hear what. He handed Pidgeot to Nurse Joy hoping she'd give his friend the all clear, but those collar's had caused serious damage in the past so he was worried for her. He went back to Ariana and his mother.

"What were you two whispering about?"

They both looked nervous for some reason.

"There is someone else here to see you Ash, before you do anything just promise us you'll hear what he has to say first."

He was sceptical but he trusted them.

"Ok I promise."

His mother took a poke ball out of her bag, Ash was curious who was inside, it couldn't be Mimey because he never went into his poke ball and to his knowledge she didn't have any other Pokémon.

"Come on out."

The flash of light died down showing a reptilian creature that somewhat resembles a toad or a young dinosaur with a spotted blue-green hide. It has three white toes growing out from each of its four legs, its irises are bright red, while the rest of its eyes are white. It has small teeth visible when the mouth is open. The most notable feature of this Pokémon is the onion-like bulb on its back.

Ash growled seeing him, one of who he had thought was 1 of his loyalist Pokémon now stood before him. That fact that his mother and Ariana were here was the only reason he hadn't gone ballistic...yet.

"What the hell is HE doing here?"

He was only just controlling his rage.

"Ash you promised your mother and me that you'd hear him out first. Riolu has told me the reason Bulbasaur turned on you that day, please just listen to what he has to say"

Ash sighed, he did promise them and he kept his promises.

"I'm glad that you've finally mastered how to communicate with Riolu, fine I'll listen to him but it better be a damn good reason, and if it's not I've got Charizard right here who'd like a reunion."

Bulbasaur nodded.

"Ash if you don't think my reason is good enough I will stand here and let Charizard roast me."

"Okay I'm listening."

"Well this is what happened."

* * *

_Flashback (A few hours before Ash arrived home after the Sinnoh League)_

_Bulbasaur was at the ranch, he was excited because he'd heard May was in town which meant she'd bring back his mate, he also knew Ash would be back soon and couldn't wait to see his trainer again._

_He saw all Ash's travel companions over the years coming into the corral, he walked to them, they asked him to round up all Ash's Pokémon. When they were all gathered Misty started talking._

_"We've all decided to tell Ash that he should give up training since he clearly has no idea what he's doing."_

_Bulbasaur couldn't believe what he was hearing._

_Brock then intervened._

_"We know you are powerful and if you wish to come with us then you are most welcome."_

_Bulbasaur looked around and saw most of them nodding, a few of them looked unsure and Charizard looked furious. Bulbasaur shook his head, he wouldn't betray his friend like that. May saw this and sent her Bulbasaur out, he was happy to see his mate but May decided to break up this reunion._

_"She's going to have your child, if you don't do as we say you'll never see her or your child."_

_Bulbasaur looked to the ground and reluctantly nodded showing he understood and agreed to their terms. Evil grins were plastered on their faces._

_Later that day Bulbasaur did as told and stood with the other's and nodded along with them, when Ash had flown away with tear's in his eyes Bulbasaur had never felt more ashamed in his life._

_End flashback_

* * *

"I later learned that they had been lying, she wasn't going to have my child, she had been in on it the whole time, by the time I found out it was too late, you were gone."

Ash looked at his first grass type, a few weeks ago he would have still been angry, but now that he was with Anabel he understood why Bulbasaur did what he did, Ash knew that he would do the same if he was in the same situation.

Ash knelt down to Bulbasaur's level, the grass type flinched and looked away, he'd heard that Ash had mastered his Aura capabilities and was expecting some form of Aura attack to be launched his way, but he was prepared for it and he knew he deserved it. He was surprised when he felt Ash wrap his arms around him.

"I understand why you did that now, I forgive you Bulbasaur, the other's may not do so as easily though. I'm gonna return you now, we'll catch up later."

Bulbasaur nodded and was returned to his poke ball, Ash had to admit Bulbasaur's betrayal had hurt the most (apart from the rat's) because he'd always thought he was one of his most loyal Pokémon, he was glad he now had him back. Ariana and Delia looked on happy that Ash had forgiven the grass type, they had both spent time with him for several weeks and they knew he was ashamed of what he'd done to Ash and wanted to make amends.

* * *

The doors to the Pokémon centre then opened revealing Richie and someone Ash had never met, if he had to guess Ash would say he's late teens. He is about 6'2" has dark short black hair, and wears a red and black open jacket with black shirt underneath. He also wears black jeans with red and black sneakers. Ash went to the pair to see how Richie did today and see who his friend was.

"Hey Richie how did it go against Agatha? And who's this?"

"This is Thomas Ridgewall, he was the person I battled in the finals of the Indigo League, and I beat Agatha, but it was tough her Gengar wouldn't go down easy. How's Pidgeot?"

"I don't know yet, I'm worried because those collar's are bad news."

Ash turned to Thomas and extended his arm. Thomas grasped his hand and shook it.

"A friend of Richie's is a friend of mine."

"It's good to meet you Ash, I've actually been wanting to meet you ever since you beat the Battle Frontier so we can have a battle."

"Well hopefully we can have that battle sometime in the future."

"Speaking of the Battle Frontier have you beaten it yet, last time I heard from you, you had 5 symbols, have you beaten Brandon yet?"

Thomas shook his head.

"No I refused to battle him until I face the Salon Maiden."

Richie had a devious look on his face he looked to Delia and then to Ash.

"Well Ash do think you can ask your girlfriend to have a match with Thomas."

Delia perked up at this.

"Aw my Ash has a girlfriend."

Ash had a terrified look on his face and then she began bombarding him with questions, which got more and more embarrassing and she ended it with a certain comment about his underwear.

"MUM!"

Everyone laughed at the embarrassed trainer. Ash muttered a few curses under his breath directed mostly at Richie.

Ash saw Nurse Joy walking out he went up to her praying that Pidgeot would be alright.

"So how is she?"

"She will need some surgery around the area the collar was as there is some damage caused due to it being worn for so many years, but she'll be fine there appears to be no permanent damage, if you come back for her in a few days she'll be ready."

Ash was relieved that the damage was minimal, those collars were known to cause neurological problems and can even cause death, Ash thanked her and began walking back to the still snickering group when Nurse Joy suddenly remembered something.

"By the way all the competitors have a week off."

"Why."

Ash didn't understand why they'd take a break when they aren't even half way through the tournament.

"Because of the special event being held to promote Co-Ordinating, as over the past few years it has become less popular and less new faces are appearing. So the 4 best Co-Ordinators are having a tag team match."

"Well who are the top 4 Co-Ordinators and who are they partnered with?"

"The teams are May Mapel and Dawn Berlitz vs..."

* * *

Notes

Who are the other top Co-Ordinators who Dawn and May will be facing?

How will Ash's Pokémon react upon seeing Bulbasaur?

I know May's Bulbasaur was a Venusaur by Sinnoh, but I'm just going to make this slight change because I couldn't really see Bulbasaur betraying Ash unless it was for his family.

OC's and their creators

Ariana - Selene's daughter

Thomas Ridgewall - Psychochiken


	13. Reunion's and Introductions

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 12 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

* * *

"Ursula and Drew."

"Odd I expected Zoey or Solidad."

"Solidad retired a couple of years ago, she'd won all four Grand Festivals and decided to step aside to allow other's to shine, as for Zoey she and the other four are jostling for the top positions, but at the last Pokémon Co-Ordinator Rankings the other four placed higher than her."

"Well if Solidad's won all of them I guess her retiring makes sense."

The doors to the Pokémon centre opened and Anabel walked through smiling.

"So you won again."

"Yes, this means I'm the last Frontier Brain in the tournament."

The couple embraced, Ash was proud that Anabel had managed to motivate herself to win these matches.

"Hey there's a couple of people I want you to meet."

Ash walked to his mother.

"Anabel, this my mother Delia Ketchum. Mum this is Anabel, she's my girlfriend."

"Hello it's nice to finally meet you Mrs Ketchum."

"Please call me Delia, and it's nice to meet you too."

Ash then looked at Ariana.

"This is Ariana. She's a little shy so don't be offended if she shies away from you at first."

Anabel walked over to the girl. Ariana walked up to meet her smiling, if Ash was in love with her then there is nothing to be afraid of. Ash was happy to see Ariana not being shy around Anabel, she usually was with other's when she first met them, she was shy with Richie at first and she was probably still terrified of Paul.

"How did you two meet?"

"Well..."

* * *

_Flashback (2 years)_

_Ash arrived at Mt Coronet a few days ago to start training when he heard a scream, he went towards where the scream came from and saw a girl in the river, the current was so fast that she was struggling to keep above the surface._

_Ash dove into the river and quickly swam to the girl, he grabbed ahold of her and started swimming towards the bank. When he got her out of the water he saw that she wasn't breathing, he charged a small amount of Aura into his hands and began doing CPR, after a few tries she spluttered and coughed up the water. She had passed out so Ash took her to his tent and placed her inside so she could rest. _

_The next morning she woke up and walked outside and saw Ash, she walked up to him._

_"How did I get here?"_

_"You fell into the river and I saved you."_

_She then remembered falling in and then seeing a man saving her._

_"Thank you if it wasn't for you I'd be dead."_

_"No problem, listen I don't know how much damage falling into that river has done so I'd recommend staying here for a few days."_

_She nodded knowing he was right, they spent the time she was there talking, and by the end they were like siblings, they went their separate ways but registered each other's pokenav numbers and promised to keep in touch._

_Flashback end_

* * *

Everyone looked at Ash with pride and respect, Ash started feeling embarrassed... again. He began rubbing the back of his neck

"It was no big deal."

Richie chuckled.

"Same old Ash, never takes credit for anything."

They all nodded in agreement, Anabel then looked at Thomas.

"And who's this?"

"This is Thomas he was my opponent in the finals of the Indigo League."

"Nice to meet you."

"You to, I actually wanted to talk to you about having a battle for the Ability Symbol."

"Well after the tournament I intend to re-open the Battle so I'll be waiting."

"Sounds good."

Ash then looked at Bulbasaur's poke ball and decided he'd better go tell the other's, he just hoped Charizard wouldn't kill him.

"Guys I'm gonna go take Bulbasaur to see the other's."

Richie was confused.

"When did you get Bulbasaur back?"

Ash looked to his mum and Ariana.

"Can you guys tell them?"

They nodded, and Ash left with Anabel, on the way he explained what had happened, she understood as Ash had why Bulbasaur did what he did,. They reached the clearing and Ash sent out all his Pokémon except Bulbasaur.

"Listen everyone, there is someone you need to see, before you do anything just listen to his story. Now I've forgiven him but I don't expect you too straight away"

Ash grabbed Bulbasaur's poke ball and threw it revealing the grass type. To say all the Pokémon looked pissed would be an understatement, Charizard had his murder face on and it was taking all of his will power to not Blast Burn the traitor in front of him into oblivion. Bulbasaur told everyone the story, they could see by the look in his eyes that everything he was saying was true and that he was ashamed of what he'd done.

Luxray, Absol, Glaceon, Flygon, Espeon, Gallade and Gardevoir went over to him, them understanding the position he'd been put in and stood in front of him showing that they supported him and would protect him. The other's grumbled and walked away, they wouldn't forgive him that easily.

"Well that went better than expected, I thought I was gonna have to explain to Nurse Joy why I have an incinerated Bulbasaur."

He looked to Bulbasaur.

"Listen they'll come around eventually, it'll just take a little time, although I would recommend you stay away from Charizard for the time being."

Bulbasaur nodded and went with the mated pairs and Flygon so they could talk and keep him safe. Ash watched on just hoping that the other's would forgive him as he had done.

"I think it's best if we leave them for now."

"Yeah I think you are right Anabel, we can go spend some time with my mum and the other's.

They left their Pokémon in the clearing hoping they would calm down and maybe even begin forgiving Bulbasaur. The rest of the day consisted of Richie taunting Thomas about his crush on Ursula which he constantly denied, Ash and Ariana catching up and him teaching her a little about Aura as he had promised when they last met and Delia and Anabel were getting to know each other. When night came they went to their individual hotel's to rest.

* * *

The next day, Ash went to the Pokémon centre hoping Nurse Joy would let him see Pidgeot just to see how she was feeling after the surgery, when he entered he saw a familiar woman with a Plusle on one shoulder and a Minun on the other.

"Hey Ursula, how have you been."

"Hi Ash I've done doing well, won the Sinnoh Grand Festival a few months back and I'm here to crush those bitches."

She'd met Ash a few months after the betrayal when she was travelling around Sinnoh, she thought it was odd seeing Ash on his own, so she approached him and they began talking he told her what had happened and it made her hate Dawn even more than before. They spent a few days together and became friends and kept in touch with each other regularly.

"I'd heard that you were in that match tomorrow, make sure you pummel em."

"I will, provided Drew stays on my side."

"Why would he turn on you?"

"Him and May are together."

"Damn it, well I guess you've just gotta hope that he doesn't double cross you."

"Yeah."

Ursual's Pokenav then starting ringing, she saw it was Drew and picked up.

"Hey Drew when are you getting here?"

"What do you mean you can't get here?!"

"You asshole!"

She hung up the phone looking seriously pissed.

"Let me guess Drew has stitched you up."

"That bastard's in Hoenn, apparently he is unable to get here for the match, like I believe that bullshit. Damn it, there is no way I can get someone else out here for tomorrow."

Ash smirked maybe he will be able to get his revenge on the May and Dawn easier than he thought.

"Hey Ursula, I've done a few contests in the past, and I'm free tomorrow."

"I was hoping you would say that."

* * *

The following morning, Ash and Ursula entered the stadium and went into the locker room waiting to be called in, they sat in silence after Ash had been allowed to see Pidgeot, Ash and Ursula spent all of yesterday preparing for this match. They heard the announcer call their names.

May and Dawn walked gracefully on to the stage dressed in a similar fashion to what they had for the Wallace Cup 6 years ago. Ash and Ursula then walked out looking focussed Ash had decided against finding a tux or something along those lines and stuck with his usual attire. Whereas Ursula on the other hand had gotten herself a new outfit specifically for this. Thomas was staring at the sight of Ursula completely entranced until he got an elbow to his ribs, he looked to his right and saw Richie smirking at him.

"When are you gonna make your move?"

"I don't know what are you talking about."

Thomas was still adamantly denying Richie's claims. Richie sighed 'I guess I'm gonna have to ask Ash to help me with this' he thought while looking at Thomas.

Back on the stage May started running her mouth.

"Ready to be humiliated you two? Against both of us you don't stand a chance."

Ash shook his head.

"Whatever, come on Ursula let's do this. Milotic may the Aura guide us"

"Flareon let's win this."

The 2 pokemon looked as focussed as their trainers. The pair of traitors smirked.

"Empoleon spotlight."

"Blaziken take the stage."

The two starters appeared cocky grins on their faces.

"There is 5 minutes on the clock, begin."

* * *

Notes

Well done those who guessed it would be Ursula and Drew as the top 2 Co-Ordinator's

The mates have forgiven Bulbasaur, how long will it take the other's though?

Guys the OC's have been decided so I don't need any more now, I apologise to those who's aren't chosen, they were excellent and choosing was incredibly hard. A few more will appear but it won't be for a few chapters.


	14. Crushing the Co-Ordinators

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 13 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

* * *

"Blaziken use Fire Spin."

"Empoleon use Bubblebeam."

Blaziken shot a vortex of flames, while Empoleon fired a stream of bubbles the 2 attacks combined causing blue sparks to appear where the fire and water touched this was what Lillian had dubbed years ago as the Fire and Water Whirlwind. Ash looked at Ursula.

"Are they really using that generic old technique against us?"

She nodded, Ash sighed he thought they'd have come up with something better than that.

"Double Counter Shield."

Milotic and Flareon began spinning sending flames and water into the air, the attacks combining to create a pillar of fire and water. The flames and bubbles hit the pillar, the bubbles burst and glistened, sparkling in the steam caused by the flames, Dawn and May's bar went down.

"Now Milotic use Twister to control the pillar and propel it at them."

A tornado was made containing the pillar the 2 Pokémon had created and Milotic sent it towards their opponents who tried to dodge but were just a bit too slow and both took a glancing blow, causing them both to stumble and making their bar decrease again. Ash had told Milotic before this match to take it easy as they weren't trying to just knock them out, they were trying to beat them at their own game, and it seemed as if she had listened. Ash and Ursula continued their bombardment.

"Flareon use Swift."

"Milotic use Icy Wind."

Flareon shot several stars at Blaziken and Empoleon, Milotic used Icy Wind to freeze them and make them sparkle.

"Now Flareon use Will-o-Wisp."

Flareon then shot purple flames out which surrounded the stars turning them purple and making them shimmer.

"Empoleon shatter them with Metal Claw."

"Blaziken do the same with Mach Punch."

They both attacked the stars smashing some of them causing the shards to glisten, but they missed several which hit them, both sides lost some points but it showed Ash and Ursula were in the lead, they then decided to up the ante.

"Dark Elemental Blast."

Flareon shot a dark orb of energy forward then shot a burst of flames at it, meanwhile Milotic shot a high pressure jet of water at it and then fired several yellow orbs. The flames and water intertwined and shot the ball of dark energy forward as the yellow orbs spun around the main blast. It hit the traitors Pokemon who struggled to stand up afterwards.

May and Dawn were fuming there wasn't much time left and they were way behind, they nodded at each other.

"Let's do this use Flame Ice."

Empoleon used Ice Beam on Blaziken who was using Flare Blitz, Blaziken was trapped in a block of Ice which shined beautifully, and shot towards their opponents. The Pokémon and their trainers all looked smug, confident that this would win them the match.

Ash and Ursula smirked.

"They are making this way to easy aren't they?"

"Yeah they are, shall we finish this?."

"Yeah, I'm bored now."

They both called out.

"Elemental Wheel."

Milotic coiled it's body into a wheel shape, her body then became surrounded in water, Flareon then jumped on to the inside of the wheel made by Milotic's body and Flareon became engulfed in flames, they both started spinning, the flames and water merged together and they and shot off towards Blaziken, when they clashed the Ice shattered and the fragments sparkled in the light made by the flames.

Blaziken was catapulted away crashing straight into Empoleon leaving them both in a heap on the ground and giving them no way to defend themselves from the charging wheel of water and fire. The attack hit the prone Pokémon and knocked them out, crosses appeared on all the judges screens, when May and Dawn looked to the big screen they saw that their bar had almost been completely drained whereas Ash and Ursula's had barely lost anything so they'd have lost badly even if their Pokémon hadn't been knocked out.

The traitors collapsed to their knees it had been years since they had been beaten so badly, Ash and Ursula turned and went down the tunnels, Ash had a grin on his face, pleased he'd manged to humiliate them so easily, he'd honestly expected them to put up more of a fight.

"Only two left now."

* * *

When they came out of the stadium Ash looked to the left and saw Anabel and the other's coming their way, Anabel wrapped her arms around him. Ash returned the embrace.

"Ash that was great, they never saw you coming."

Richie came up and shook his hand.

"Yeah that was great man, you showed them."

Richie looked at Thomas and then Ursula.

"By the way I need to talk to you about them later."

Ash nodded understanding what Richie wanted. Meanwhile Thomas had gone to Ursula, nervous as hell.

"H-h-hey, that was r-really impressive."

Now Ursula was always able to say what she thinks when she thinks it, but something about the handsome young man in front of her made her mind go blank.

"T-thanks."

Ash and Richie looked at the pair, thinking that this will be easier than they thought. Ash was then tackled by Ariana.

"Those moves were incredible guys, they were so beautiful."

Ash chuckled, Ariana still loved watching contests and was always so enthusiastic about them, unfortunately Paul did not have the same love of them.

"Contests are a stupid waste of time, pretty looking moves are useless if they don't do damage."

Usually Ariana would jump to the defence of Contests, but Paul's abrasive nature intimidated her and she shrank back hiding behind Ash. Ash was going to say something but a furious Ursula beat him to the punch.

"What the hell did you say?!"

"You heard me."

"You just know you don't have the skill to create any creative moves and can only use basic tactics in battle."

"Shut up, I could create those idiotic moves, but it would be wasting time that could be used on something useful."

They were glaring at each other and Ash knew them both well enough to know that if they are kept together any longer something or someone would probably get destroyed, so Paul was being dragged away by Ash and it was taking Richie, Thomas and Ariana to pull the enraged Ursula away.

"Ash I'll call your Pokenav later ok."

"Sure Richie."

* * *

When Ash, Anabel and Delia eventually calmed Paul down, they asked him about his match with Bertha.

"She actually provided a bit of a challenge, but she went down nonetheless."

Ash was half listening to Paul but his thought were mainly turned to Pidgeot.

"I'm gonna head to the Pokémon centre and see if Nurse Joy will let me take Pidgeot now."

Anabel and Delia decided to come with him but Paul said he was going off to train, hopefully this training didn't involve finding Ursula. They walked inside and saw a rather bored Nurse Joy sat behind the front desk.

"Hey Nurse Joy, I came to see if I can take Pidgeot with me now."

"Yes you can take her, she seems to be recovering from the surgery very quickly."

"That's great news, when will she be able to battle again?"

Ash wanted to have the option of using her if he could, but he wouldn't risk her health.

"She should be battle ready in a couple of days."

"So I'll be able to use her in the tournament that's helpful, speaking of which have the next round match ups been done yet?"

"No with all the build up to the event today, the draw was delayed, it will be ready tomorrow though."

"Ok, thanks again Nurse Joy."

The trio walked outside, Ash asked his mother if she wanted to meet his other Pokémon, she politely declined as she was due to meet some old friends from her travelling days, who she'd kept in touch with but hadn't seen face to face for years.

Ash and Anabel began walking back to the clearing, when they got there they saw that Blastoise, Butterfree and Lapras were now with Bulbasaur laughing together, Ash knew it wouldn't be long before his Kanto team stood with Bulbasaur, but the other's still shot glares at him, the worst coming from Charizard which didn't surprise him, he just hoped it wouldn't take long for the others to forgive him.

"Hey everyone."

All the Pokémon turned to their trainers, Ash then sent out Miloitc to join the other's.

"Nurse Joy has let me take Pidgeot, so it's time to introduce you to her."

He released her and she immediately went to Bulbasaur and extended her wing showing she had no ill feeling towards him, Ash had explained to her about Bulbasaur and she understood, Bulbasaur smiled and extended a vine and they did the closest thing to a handshake they can do. Charizard growled at this, although he was ecstatic that she was safe and unharmed he couldn't believe she had forgiven him. She spent the rest of the afternoon meeting everyone, learning of their past and generally talking with them. As Anabel and Ash stayed there for the rest of the day relaxing with their Pokémon, when they decided to leave and go back to the hotel Ash's Pokenav started ringing he saw it was Richie and answered it.

"Hey Richie."

"Ash can we meet up so I can talk to you about Thomas and Ursula?"

"Richie can we do it tomorrow after we get our schedules for the next round?"

"Sure Ash, same time as before?"

"Yeah."

They said their goodbyes and hung up, the couple went back to their hotel and fell to sleep side by side.

* * *

Next morning the couple walked to the Pokémon centre and saw everyone waiting for them, Paul decided to be his charming self.

"Ever heard of an alarm clock Ketchum."

"Yeah but I usually smash mine to smitherines."

They all laughed at that, walked in and approached Nurse Joy, she handed them their schedules one at a time. Paul had been matched against the winner of the Unova League, Richie was against Tyson who Ash had faced in the Hoenn League, Thomas was against Harrison who Ash battled in the Johto League and Anabel was up against Volkner who had recently been made a member of the Elite 4 in Sinnoh. All of them looked at Ash wondering who his next opponent would be.

"So I finally get to fight the brat and his rat."

* * *

Notes

I know I used Counter Shield again, but it's flexible and it would look impressive in any kind of battle.

I found the Contest battle was harder to write than any of the other battles so far, as I'm trying to describe the moves looking appealing rather than just having them cause damage. So I'm sorry if it isn't very good.

So next chapter it's what you've all been waiting for Ash vs Max, it will be a full 6 vs 6 battle so which 6 Pokémon will Ash use?

Combo moves

Dark Elemental Blast - Flareon - Shadow Ball + Flamethrower + Milotic - Hydro Pump + Hidden Power Electric

Elemental Wheel - Flareon - Flame Wheel + Milotic - Aqua Wheel (Water version of Flame Wheel)


	15. Ash vs Max - A Maple is felled

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 14 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

The doors to the Pokémon centre opened revealing Max and Pikachu, they went to the main desk not making eye contact with Ash and the other's, Nurse Joy then showed them who they'd be facing, they looked to the left and saw the smirk on Ash's face, Ash turned and walked away uttering a few words before he left.

"See you in a few days Maxy."

Max and Pikachu were left alone in the Pokémon centre, they shared a nervous glance

"We can do this, right Pikachu?"

"Pika."

Neither of them was sure who they were trying to convince.

Ash walked towards the clearing to tell everyone the good news. The Pokémon saw Ash coming towards them and the look on his face told them that it as finally time for Max and Pikachu to feel their wrath.

"In the next round we face Max."

All the Pokémon were thrilled that they'd finally get the chance to fight Max and were curious to see which Pokémon Ash chose to use. He eventually managed to choose the Pokémon he use, he then looked at Charizard.

"Charizard there is one condition, you can't kill Pikachu."

"Why not?"

Ash smirked.

"Because we might get disqualified."

The next few days went extremely slowly for Ash, they spent their time preparing for the match and perfecting a couple of new moves. Ash spent a lot of his time training with Bulbasaur, Pidgeot and Lapras so they could catch up to his other Pokémon in the future.

It was finally time, Ash was sat in the locker waiting to be called out, he had been waiting for this day for a long time and now it was finally here he wouldn't waste the opportunity he's been given. He heard his name be called and walked out the tunnel and on to the battlefield.

* * *

"This will be a 6 vs 6 battle substitutions are allowed, in the green box we have Max Maple and in the red we have Ash Ketchum. Max Maple shall choose his Pokémon first"

"Sceptile let's go."

Another of his former Pokémon under the ownership of the traitors.

"Bulbasaur may the Aura guide you."

Bulbasaur came out and glared at the lizard across from him.

"Sceptile use Bullet Seed."

"Cut through it with Razor Leaf."

Sceptile shot hundreds of seed towards Bulbasaur who released several razor-sharp leaves which sliced them in half making an explosion in the centre of the battlefield.

"Energy Ball and swallow it."

"Now you're trying to use my tactics as well. Bulbasaur quick use Sludge Seeds."

Bulbasaur fired several seeds covered in toxic sludge, but they weren't fast enough and Sceptile formed and swallowed the Energy Ball making his body glow green and increase his power. The seeds hit Sceptile doing some decent damage but the Lizard still looked more than ready to continue.

"Use Leaf Blade."

"Use your vines to push yourself in the air then use body slam."

Sceptile ran forwards his blades turning a deep green, he threw his right blade forward but hit thin air as Bulbasaur was up in the sky. He began descending and was about to slam into Sceptile, but the Hoenn starter then raised his other blade and struck Bulbasaur stopping the attack. Ash winced watching this, he then realised that he'd been using Bulbasaur as he would use his other Pokémon which would be fine except for the fact that Bulbasaur at the minute is nowhere near the same power level of them.

"X-Scissor."

Sceptile ran at Bulbasaur and slashed him with the bug move causing Bulbasaur to stagger back and temporarily collapse. Bulbasaur struggled to his feet, he knew there was only 1 way he'd be able to win this battle and he would win it, he cried out and glowed white when the light died down it revealed his evolved form Ivysaur, the main change in his appearance is that its bulb on his back has changed into a pink flower bud with leaves extending from it.

"Sceptile X-Scissor again."

"Ivysaur use Vine Whip to grab his arms, then use Sludge Bomb and slam him into the ground."

Ivysaur shot out 2 vines and grabbed Scpetile's arms, he then raised him high in the air, leaving him completely defenceless and shot a torrent of sludge at the Lizard causing it to yell out in pain, Ivysaur then slammed him down, making a crater in the battlefield. Sceptile managed to get to his feet but looked exhausted, his body had lost its green glow that the power boost Energy Ball had given him showing he no longer had the strength to maintain that level of power. Although his Overgrow ability had kicked in it had nowhere near as much power as the Energy Ball had. Ash decided to finish him.

"Ivysaur Solarbeam."

"Sceptile use Solarbeam too."

Both grass starters charged the powerful attack and fired, the attacks clashed in the middle of the battlefield, the attacks seemed even but gradually Ivysaur's began pushing Sceptile's back until it finally cut through and launched the lizard into the stadium wall, he slumped to the ground unconscious.

"Sceptile is unable to battle green choose your next Pokémon."

* * *

Max growled in frustration and returned Sceptile, he then pulled another poke ball off his belt.

"Gallade you're up."

"Great job Ivysaur I'm proud of you, take a rest."

Ash returned his first grass type and took a new poke ball off his belt.

"Luxray may the Aura lead us to victory."

"Gallade annihilate that thing with Earthquake."

Ash sighed, he was disappointed in how predictable Max was.

"Magnet Rise."

Just like against Brock, the ground shook but completely missing Luxray who was in the air smirking at Max.

"Hey captain predictable, I thought you'd have learned from my match against the pervert that using tactics like that won't work."

"Shut up, use Psycho Cut until you knock him out of the sky."

"Use Night Slash on them."

Gallade fired several psychic blades at Luxray who's claws turned pitch black, he swung them at the blades which instantly dispelled them, Max's eye twitched and a frustrated growl came from him.

"Luxray use Thunder Swift and use them to get to Gallade and use Iron Tail."

"Use Shadow Ball."

Luxray shot several stars at Gallade and used Thunderbolt on them to make them crackle with electricity, he then jumped from star to star dodging the orbs of black energy while his tail went silver, he got to the last star jumped and swung his tail which slammed down on Gallade's head making him crash to the ground. The punishment wasn't over yet as Luxray jumped away, Gallade looked up and saw the stars headed for him, and had no chance to dodge as they struck him, he struggled to his feet but it was obvious that he was finished.

"Max return Gallade there is nothing more he can do."

"No I don't believe you, Gallade is fine, use Leaf Blade and Night Slash."

"Fine, Luxray use Wild Charge."

Gallade's right blade glowed green and his left turned black and he charged at Luxray who was surrounded in electricity and sprinting at Gallade. The 2 clashed and Gallade was easily overpowered and sent flying through the air and he landed at Max's feet knocked out.

"Gallade is unable to battle, green choose your next Pokémon."

* * *

Ash was smirking, which was seriously pissing Max off

"Slaking it's you're turn."

"Good job Luxray return, now Absol may the Aura assure our victory."

The disaster Pokémon stood proud in front of her opponent while Slaking looked ready to take a nap.

"Slaking use Focus Punch."

"Absol use Ice Beam on the battlefield then use Dark Pulse when Slaking is down to shatter the ice."

Slaking's fist glowed white as he charged towards Absol who fired the Ice Beam and froze the battlefield causing Slaking to slip over and slide ungracefully and crash into the wall. Absol then fired a dark wave of energy on the ice causing it to shatter and leave shards all over the battlefield, Slaking ability then kicked causing him to show off why his species is called the lazy Pokémon.

"Now use Razor Wind."

"Use Focus Punch again."

Absol began preparing to fire the powerful wind blades, meanwhile Slaking had stopped being a lazy git and ran at Absol its fist again glowing white, Absol then fired the attack, the blades of wind also propelled the shards of ice on the ground at Slaking pelting him and making him lose his focus, the blades of wind then struck him creating cuts all over his body. He slumped to the ground blood slowly oozing out of the wounds.

"Let's finish him off, use Night Slash and don't let up your assault."

She charged at the prone Pokémon her claws and the sickle on her head turning from grey to black, she bombarded Slaking with slashes creating cuts all over his body, she finished it up by using her sickle to make a huge gash on Slaking's body.

"Slaking is unable to battle, green choose your next Pokémon."

* * *

Max wasn't gonna give up but his confidence was waning.

"Quilava let's do this."

"Well done Absol, now Gardevoir time for another traitor to fall."

The fire type came out he spotted his opponent and quickly averted his gaze, Ash had caught sight of the look in his eyes and saw the same look that Bulbasaur had on his face days ago, it made Ash wonder if he was ashamed of his actions as Bulbasaur was. Ash decided to get answers from the Johto starter.

"Why'd you do it Quilava?"

Quilava looked to the ground, he knew his reason was pathetic, but Ash deserved to know the truth.

"I was scared, I saw so many of the other's nod along that I was scared of what would happen to me if I disagreed with them."

"Not good enough."

Quilava nodded his head.

"I know."

Max decided to start this battle.

"Quilava use Flamethrower."

"Use Light Screen, then use Shadow Thunder Blast."

Quilava shot a burst of flames at Gardevoir, who stood still and erected a barrier in front of her which sent the flames flying off in different directions and leaving her completely unphased. She formed a Shadow Ball and a Focus Blast, her fists then crackled with electricity, and she punched both of the orbs launching them at the stunned fire type, who tried to dodge but the Shadow Ball clipped his side making him unable to avoid the Focus Blast which hit him head on, knocking him down temporarily, he got to his feet looking ready for battle.

"Use Flame Charge."

"Meet him head on with Zen Headbutt."

Quilava became engulfed in flames and ran straight at Gardevoir who's charged at Quilava a blue glow surrounding her head . The 2 met in the centre of the battlefield the clash of attacks created an explosion which sent Quilava skidding along the ground, he shook his head and slowly pushed himself to his feet meanwhile Gardevoir floated back in front of Ash.

"Quilava hit her with Swift."

"Use Psychic to return them to sender."

Quilava fired the stars at Gardevoir, but they stopped inches from her and they glowed blue from the psychic energy, she then shot them back at Quilava spinning several times faster than before. The fire type cried out in pain when the stars hit him, his legs were shaky and he knew he couldn't go on much longer.

"Quilava use Flare Blitz."

"Psychic Rush."

Like before Quilava's body was engulfed in flames but they were much more intense this time, he charged, the speed boost from Flame Charge making him close the distance quicker than before. Meanwhile Gardevoir's body was surrounded in a blue glow and charged at Quilava using Psychic to increase the speed and power of her attack. Their combined attacks raised a dust cloud which shrouded the battlefield, when the dust finally settled a triumphant Gardvoir stood over an unconscious Quilava.

"Quilava is unable to battle, green choose your next Pokémon."

* * *

Max was getting incredibly frustrated now.

"Pelipper we can win this."

"Tyranitar come on out and crush him."

They both came out and Pelipper immediately shrunk back in fear of the pseudo legendary in front of him. Tyranitar smirked he's terrified the opposing Pokémon and he hadn't even had to try.

"Pelipper use Hydro Pump."

"Use a low power Thunderpunch, we don't want to one shot him now do we?"

Tyranitar's fist crackled with electricity, he threw his fist at the water headed his way which travelled all the way to Pelipper who was still firing the attack and was shocked in more than one way by the attack. Taking an attack like that had almost caused him to faint, he just about managed to keep himself in the air. Max knew he had to try to recover some of the damage Pelipper had received.

"Roost."

"Max you are really making this far too easy, use Earthquake."

Pelipper landed on the ground and healed some of the damage caused by the Thunderpunch, but he didn't do it quick enough and was hit by the Earthquake which ruined the already wrecked battlefield and it had basically made Pelipper's Roost a pointless endeavor.

"Back in the air and rapid fire Water Guns."

Pelipper shot several quick shots at Tyranitar not firing for too long in fear of getting electrocuted again, but the attacks were doing nothing to the rock type who stood there looking completely bored he even had the gall to yawn at him. Ash was finding the decimation of Max incredibly funny but he knew that Charizard was eager to meet their old friend so he decided to finish Pelipper off.

"Let's finish this, use Stone Edge."

Max then realised the real reason Ash had used Earthquake, and could do nothing as he saw Tyranitar throw rocks from the destroyed battlefield at Pelipper knocking the flying type out of the sky and crushing him.

"Pelipper is unable to battle, green choose your final Pokémon."

* * *

Max looked at Pikachu.

"Come on Pikachu we can do this if you can beat Ash's last pokemon I' sure you can take down the rest of his team no problem."

Pikachu nodded and jumped off Max's shoulder's and stood defiantly in front of Ash.

"Charizard it's time."

Charizard came out roaring and shooting flames in the air, temporarily intimidating Max and Pikachu, but they both quickly regained their composure.

"Do you wanna do this on your own."

Charizard nodded.

"Okay have fun."

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt."

Pikachu charged the electric attack and fired, it shot straight towards Charizard, Max anticipating an easy win was already celebrating but jubilation soon turned to a look of horror as Charizard just swung his wing and batted the Thunderbolt away. Both trainer and pokemon were stunned nobody had ever just brushed aside his Thunderbolt that easily.

"Quick Attack now."

Pikachu shot forward moving extremely fast but was easily stopped by Charizard who had just put his foot up to halt the mouse, his other foot then glowed white and he kicked Pikachu into the air, then he flew up above Pikachu, his fist glowed white and it was also blazing he punched the mouse who was sent crashing into the battlefield. He pulled himself out of the crater he was in but looked worse for wear.

"Pikachu Electro Ball."

He launched the ball of electricity at Charizard who simply put up his hand and caught it like a baseball, he then threw it straight back at Pikachu who wasn't really harmed by the attack, but it was quickly demoralising the mouse who was beginning to realise just how outclassed he was. Ash was on the verge of laughing watching Charizard humiliate Pikachu this badly, but he knew Charizard wasn't done yet

"Iron Tail."

Pikachu's tail turned silver and he ran at Charizard, he jumped at the last minute hoping to land a shot to his head and he did but it didn't even make him flinch, Charizard then grabbed Pikachu's tail and dangled the defenceless mouse in front of him. Pikachu used a Thunder but Charizard wasn't even bothered, he had actually laughed at the attack.

"Ha that tickled"

Pikachu was terrified, he'd never been more afraid of anything in his life not even when he was paralyzed by Mewtwo's Psychic, he was scared to think of what Charizard would do next. The fire type slammed Pikachu into the ground not once, not twice but three times and then fired a point blank Flamethrower at him. Somehow Pikachu managed to scramble away, his body littered in cuts, bruises and burns.

"Pikachu Volt Tackle."

He became surrounded with electricity, he maybe outclassed but he wouldn't go down without a fight, Charizard charged at Pikachu his body engulfed by flames, the attacks clashed and the mouse wouldn't have stood a chance if Charizard had been trying, but he'd had a different idea, as they came together his tail turned silver and he swung it hitting Pikachu in the abdomen and it sent him flying in the air again, Charizard chased after him and grabbed him with one intention.

When they got to an alttitude that Charizard thought was appropriate he threw Pikachu towards the Earth and he crashed into the ruins of the battlefield, but Charizard had one last thing to add to the destruction, he charged up a Blast Burn and fired it right at the powerless mouse, Pikachu closed his eyes he didn't want to see the brutal attack as it hit him. After the attack hit Charizard glided back to the ground and inspected his handiwork and to say he was delighted would be an understatement. Pikachu was in the enormous crater Charizard had created, broken, bleeding and burnt.

"Pikachu is unable to battle Ash Ketchum wins."

Max collapsed to his knees crying and Ash smiled seeing the distraught look on his face. Ash then walked to the crater Pikachu was in, he went down and knelt next to him, Pikachu turned his head to look at his old trainer, his vision was blurry from the pain and the tears in his eyes. In a cold voice that Pikachu had never heard Ash use before he said six words.

"This is the cost of betrayal."

Ash turned around and walked out the stadium.

"Only Tracey left now."

* * *

Notes

So there it is Max has now fallen to Ash leaving just Tracey. Sceptile and Quilava are the other 2 old Pokémon that are going to join back up with Ash, it just won't be yet but I'm hoping you'll like how they get back with him.

I made Bulbasaur a little weaker than Sceptile because he hasn't really been training for years, and because Sceptile has been travelling with Max and constantly battling.

I know I use move like Thunderpunch and Iron Tail a lot in this story but I really like the various things you can do with those kind of attacks.

Another OC will appear next chapter.

If you guys have any questions about the story then PM them to me and if I get enough I'll make a Q&A chapter.

In the future would you like me to do all the battles in 1 long chapter or spread them across 2 smaller ones? I know some people prefer to read shorter chapters so it's up to you guys. What I will say is that future battles will probably be longer as it won't be a one sided affair.

Another poll is up, it will only be for a few days though. It is should Pikachu be Ash's Pokémon again? It has been asked a few times in PM's so I decided to let you guys vote for it. I don't mind either way as I already know how it would work, within the story.

Combo moves

Sludge Seeds - Sludge Bomb + Seed Bomb

Thunder Swift - Thunderbolt + Swift

Shadow Thunder Blast - Thunderpunch + Shadow Ball + Focus Blast

Psychic Rush - equivalent of Frost Smash/Flare Blitz/Volt Tackle etc


	16. The last traitor falls

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 15 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

Ash had a huge smile on his face, the memory of a crying Max and Pikachu still fresh, he began walking towards the clearing when he was tackled by a blue creature. Ash looked at the creature and saw the familiar face.

"Hey Keldeo, where's Alessandra."

"She's right here."

Ash looked up and saw her, she still had Waist-long brown hair and brown eyes, she's wearing a blue top, with a white jacket, blue knee-long skirt, white socks and brown shoes. She's also carrying a blue and white bag. Keldeo got off Ash and let him get to his feet and he hugged her.

"Hey Alex what are you doing here?"

"I've just won my match and was hoping I'd run into you."

"I'm glad to see you, how's Markus ."

"He's ok he decided to stay back at home cheering for me."

Just then she saw Max cradling Pikachu. Alessandra walked over to them, she saw the horrible injuries Pikachu had sustained, Ash knew what she was intending to do. She shook her head, took two poke balls off her belt and looked at Pikachu.

"You don't deserve it but...Blissy! Audio! Come on out, I need your help!"

The healers came out and looked at the broken and bleeding mouse.

"Can you two heal Pikachu for me please?"

The Audino nodded straight away but the Blissey looked at her with a 'why the hell should we' look.

"Wait a minute Alex, you know those are two of the traitors, why the hell do you wanna help them?"

"I can't stand seeing Pokemon injured, even if it is one of the ones who betrayed you, I'm sorry Ash but it is just my nature. Please Blissy I know you don't want to but please help him for me and Audio"

She looked at the two she considered parents and then looked to Ash. Ash sighed he knew this was a very strong belief of her's, he wasn't happy about it but he knew that there would be no changing her mind.

"Fine help the rat, Blissy go on heal him."

Blissy began helping albeit reluctantly, suddenly 1 of Ash's poke balls popped open revealing a very pissed off Charizard making the 2 healers back away.

"NO WAY! No fucking way is he getting off this easy."

Keldeo, Leafeon and Infernape stood between Charizard and Alessandra.

"You will not harm our trainer."

Ash decided it would be best if he took Charizard and got out of there before a fight broke out.

"Listen Alex call me later and we can meet up."

Ash returned Charizard and started walking to the clearing leaving her to heal Pikachu.

* * *

When Ash got there he saw his other Pokémon and let out the ones who had fought today.

"What the hell Ash, that traitor only suffered for a few minutes, how is that justice."

"We humiliated them, that was the main thing, and we both know that Alex will never let a Pokemon be left in that kind of state, you really did a good job on him."

"Thanks."

Charizard then saw Ivysaur.

"So you evolved."

"Yeah, I had to, it was the only way I'd beat Sceptile."

Charizard looked at the grass type stunned, he knew how much he had hated the idea of evolving, and doing so to defeat one of the treacherous Pokémon showed he was true to his word, he walked to him and extended his hand. Ivysaur look shocked, he gingerly extended a vine and Charizard grasped it and shook it.

"So are we good now?"

"Yeah we are, I see that you are truly loyal to Ash if you were willing to evolve."

The other Pokémon seeing Charizard forgive Ivysaur went to him and welcomed him to the family, Ash looked on happy that they were all with Ivysaur now.

Ash's pokenav began ringing, he saw it was Alex and picked up.

"Finished healing the rat."

"Yes, I'm sorry Ash but I can't help it."

"Don't apologise, I know it is in your nature to heal any hurt Pokémon and I'm not mad at you, Charizard is but I'm not. So do you wanna meet at the Pokémon centre?"

"Okay I'll see you there."

They hung up and made their way to the Pokémon centre, Meowth climbed on Ash's shoulder as he wanted to see Alex.

* * *

The Pokémon centre was in sight, before he could get to the entrance he was intercepted by a pissed off Pokémon watcher.

"You've embarrassed the other's and even sent 2 of them to prison, I'm gonna make you pay for that."

Ash began laughing.

"Yeah right Tracey, you're even more pathetic than the other's, but if you really wanna look like a complete fool let's go to one of the training fields."

Tracey followed Ash to the training area behind the Pokémon centre, several trainers were seen battling, but when they saw Ash they immediately stopped and followed to watch his match.

"Tracey let out all 6 of your pathetic Pokémon."

Tracey was infuriated, he sent out all 6 of the Pokémon he had revealing a Scizor, a Snorlax, a Noctowl, a Glalie, a Heracross and an Azumarril. Ash smirked, he would get a chance to really trounce Tracey in front of the trainers here, he only had Meowth but he'd be more than enough. The cat jumped off Ash's shoulder and stood before Tracey's Pokémon.

"Ha you only have one Pokémon and it's the failure from Team Rocket, this'll be easy."

Ash and Meowth grinned and said.

"Yeah it will be, for us."

Tracey growled.

"Scizor use Metal Claw, Snorlax Ice Punch, Noctowl Air Slash, Glalie Ice Beam, Heracross Megahorn and Azumarril use Aqua Jet."

"Use Water Pulse on the ground to launch yourself in the air and use Hidden Barrage"

Meowth was shot into the air dodging all of Tracey's Pokémon's attacks, 6 red orbs appeared around Meowth and they were sent straight at Tracey's Pokémon he then fired a horde of stars and finished it off with firing a several rays of light that could be mistaken for gem stones. The impact of the attacks shrouded the battlefield in dust when it cleared Tracey's Pokemon were seen struggling to stay upright while Meowth gracefully landed on the ground in front of Ash.

"I can't believe they are still standing, I guess they aren't quite as worthless as I thought or maybe Meowth is just holding back even more than I thought he would."

The cat turned and Ash saw that the latter of the 2 statements was correct.

"Scizor and Noctowl Aerial Ace, Heracross Megahorn, Snorlax Ice Punch, Glalie Headbutt and Azumarill use Double-Edge."

"Use Thunder Night Slash on the first two, then jump and use Iron Tail on Heracross, Hypnosis on Snorlax and then charge the last two with Giga Impact."

Meowth built up electricity but instead of discharging it he channeled it into his now pitch black claws, he ran at the 2 flying types and slashed at them both causing them to cry out in anguish as the electricity shocked them, the pain was so great that they fainted seconds later.

The cat then turned his attention to the beetle flying at him, as the Megahorn was about to hit Meowth jumped and slammed his now metallic tail on to the back of the bugs head, smashing him in to the ground and knocking him out instantly.

He then looked at the charging Snorlax and sent him to sleep with just a single glance, he ignored him and started charging at the 2 remaining enemies, when the 3 Pokémon collided it caused an explosion which sent Azumarill and Glalie crashing into the wall and slumping to the ground unconscious.

This left the sleeping Snorlax, Ash smirked thinking back to the Johto League when Harrison had done this to Snorlax, last time he woke up and was pretty angry, let's see how he fair's against a much more powerful Dream Eater.

"Meowth finish it off with Dream Eater."

Meowth closed his eyes and entered Snorlax's dream, he started to cause some serious pain, making Snorlax writhe on the ground until he was knocked out.

Tracey returned his Pokémon and quickly made his escape. Ash looked at his beaten opponent running off, he'd finally beat them all, the traitors had all been crushed. Ash looked to the spectators and saw his mother, Richie, Alex and Ariana who had been watching the whole time. He walked up to them a smile on his face.

"It's over, I finally got back at all of them."

They nodded and followed Ash into the Pokémon centre, they heard the doors open and looked to see who was entering, it was Paul who walked in looking incredibly smug. Ash knew that look very well.

"So you won then."

"Yeah the only challenge was his Hydreigon, it doesn't seem like Unova is that much of a challenge really. So did you crush the rat?"

"Yeah Charizard beat him down badly."

Paul smirked.

"So how long's he gonna be in intensive care?"

Ash looked at Alex.

"Well."

Paul saw the look on Ash and Alex's faces.

"You let her heal him, why?"

"Because that's what she does, she heals injured Pokémon and you know there is no way to stop her, although Charizard wanted to."

Anabel then walked into Pokémon centre. She saw Ash talking with Paul and a girl, Paul looked annoyed but then when doesn't he? She walked up to the trio.

"Hi Ash, who's this?"

"Hi Anabel, this is Alessandra Cesarini."

"It's good to meet you and please call me Alex."

"How did you two meet."

"Well it was not long after I met Ariana..."

* * *

_Flashback (2 Years ago)_

_Alessandra is with her Infernape, her Leafeon and her Keldeo were walking around Mt. Coronet, where Alessandra was hoping to train her Servine, her Tranquill and her Chansey to evolve._

_They decided to stop and camp for the night._

_Alessandra had put out the Pokémon food she had with her, but the she noticed someone missing._

_"Hey, where's Keldeo?" Alessandra asked confused, looking around to see where the Colt Pokémon was._

_Not seeing him, she sighed._

_"Oh come on...Not again!" she said._

_She then looked to Penelope._

_"Penelope, can you help me?"_

_The Tranquill nodded and took flight._

_Alessandra returned her Chansey and Servine, with the promise of letting them eat as soon as they found the Colt Pokémon and then looked also to her Infernape, Blaze, and her Leafeon, Leaf._

_"Come on, let's make Penelope's work a little easier." she said to them._

_They nodded and started the search._

_Meanwhile with Ash._

_Ash watched his Pokémon training, before stopping for the day._

_He heard a sound and before he knew it, he was tackled by something._

_Ash looked at the Pokémon on him._

_"Who are you?"_

_"I'm Keldeo."_

_Ash then remembered reading something about him when he did some research into Pokémon from the Unova region, but his was a puzzled as to why a legendary Pokémon from Unova would be on Mt Coronet._

_"What are you doing here?"_

_"I was with my trainer, Alessandra."_

_"And where's she?"_

_All of a sudden everyone heard a female voice._

_"Keldeo? Keldeo?!" she was calling. "Are you here?"_

_Keldeo got up from where he was and run to a girl, that just reached the campsite._

_Ash saw as she knelt down to be at Keldeo's level and tickled his chin._

_"Keldeo, I know you're still young, but you shouldn't get away from us." she said._

_Then she noticed Ash, even if she didn't know that._

_"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you." she said. "Did my Keldeo bother you?"_

_"Not at all, trust me I've taken far worse than just a tackle."_

_"Sorry about that." she said, having heard of the fact that Keldeo tackled him. "Keldeo has been with me for a year and he's still young so sometimes he tends to run off and tackle people, is it ok if I let the rest of my team out?"_

_Ash nodded and she let out her team who began eating the food she'd prepared and they began talking with Ash's Pokémon._

_Ash looked at the Pokémon smiling, happy that they were still able to trust other's so easily. He wished he could do the same thing, he was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the girl talking._

_"I'm Alessandra Cesarini, but my friends call me Alex." she said. "And you are?"_

_"Takeo Hayashi."_

_Flashback over_

* * *

"She found out a few day later that i was actually Ash Ketchum thanks to a certain cat."

He looked to the Meowth on his shoulder.

"I thought dat she was back at camp."

The group spent the rest of the day together, Ash promising to help Richie with Thomas and Ursula tomorrow, Ariana yawned and the group looked at the time and saw how late it had gotten, they all went back to their hotels to get some rest.

* * *

Miles away 5 traitors are in a bar moping. They had all faced Ash and had been humiliated, they all had one thing on their mind.

"How can we get back at Ash, he has embarrassed all of us, but he's too powerful."

They were interupted by a hooded man.

"I have an idea."

* * *

Notes

Who is this mysterious man?

The last traitor falls but how do the traitors fit into the man's plans?

What are his plans for Ash?

Combo Moves

Hidden Barrage - Hidden Power + Swift + Power Gem

Thunder Night Slash - Thunderbolt + Night Slash

OC creator

Alessandra Cesarini - Legendary Fairy - I'd like to thank her for the amount of detail she provided for her character and I highly recommend you check out her work.


	17. An old enemy returns

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 16 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

They looked at the hooded man who'd approached them, the only thing visible was his evil grin.

"Who the hell are you?"

The man smirked.

"Who I am matters not, what matters is that I want revenge on Ash Ketchum."

"Why should we help you?"

"For two reasons, one you'll get revenge on him after he humiliated all of you and two I can help break your friends out of jail."

They looked at each other and nodded.

"We're in. So what's the plan?"

"Simple, use the people he loves to lure him into our trap."

* * *

Next morning Ash met up with everyone except for Paul who was 'busy', Thomas and Ursula. He looked at the 2 he'd come to see as sisters.

Hey Alex, Ariana how about you drop your Pokémon off with mine and Anabel's I'm sure they'd love a reunion."

"That's a great idea Ash."

"So what is everyone's plans for today?"

Alex looked at Anabel, Ariana and Delia all of them smiled and looked at Ash.

"We were planning on going shopping."

Ash paled he still had nightmares of shopping trips with May and Dawn, luckily for Ash, Richie was there to save him.

"We'd love to come but Ash promised to help me out today."

Ash breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah we better go."

Before they had a chance to say anything Ash and Richie were long gone.

"So Richie what's the plan, how are we gonna get those two together from what you've told me Thomas is just as stubborn as Ursula is."

"Well we have two options either we try to convince them to tell each other."

"Yeah like that's gonna happen, what's option two?"

Richie smirked.

"We pull the tape recorder trick."

Ash looked at him sceptically.

"You really think it'll work?"

"Trust me."

"I hate it when you say that."

Richie looked at Ash and laughed.

"Come on this will turn out much better than my last plan."

"It couldn't go much bloody worse could it? Just give me the damn recorder"

"Here, now go back to the Pokémon centre and Thomas should be there, meet me and Ursula at the town's central square in an hour."

"Fine."

* * *

On the other side of town Alex had just left a store, she had gotten some new medicinal supplies for Pokemon that she wanted to try, Delia had bought some general supplies and Ariana had bought a book on Aura and the Aura Guardians which she and Anabel were studying. Delia looked at them.

"You know Ariana for a twelve-year-old you're incredibly curious, especially about Aura."

Ariana looked up long enough to reply

"Well I saw Ash use it a few times and I just got hooked on learning about it and shortly after I caught Riolu who has taught me everything he knows about it."

She then turned her attention back to the book.

"And you seem to have quite an interest in it to Anabel."

"Well I wanna learn all I can about them, after all Ash is one."

They all kept walking unaware that they were being followed. From a dark alleyway the hooded man was watching his targets, keeping to the shadows he had avoided detection thus far, when they were getting close he looked to his Pokémon.

"You both know what to do."

The Pokémon moved in front of the 4 women and they dropped to the floor unconscious and they were teleported away.

When the women woke up they saw the 5 traitors and a hooded man in front of them, they tried to move but found they were chained to the chairs they were in and they couldn't speak as they'd been gagged. The hooded man walked forward.

"If you're wondering why you're here, we've taken you to lure Ash here, he's gonna pay for what he did to me."

The hooded man looked at Quilava and Sceptile.

"You two scout around outside and tell us when he is coming."

They headed outside and began running to the high street, hoping they'd find Ash.

* * *

Ash and Richie are walking back down the high street happy that they'd helped get Ursula and Thomas together. Ash was looking around the stores hoping to surprise Anabel and the other's. Ash looked at Richie.

"I still can't believe that worked."

"Hey I do have the occasional good idea."

Ash smirked.

"I think rare would be more appropriate."

Richie had a fake hurt look on his face.

"Hey I resent that."

They both started laughing, when they calmed down Richie said he was going to head back to his hotel room to relax. Ash decided to keep looking for his loved ones, when suddenly a Braviary landed in front of him and handed him a note, then it flew off. Ash looked at the note.

_Hey Ketchum,_

_We've captured your mother, Ariana, Alessandra and your precious Anabel, you have half an hour from the time Braviary returns, to find us before they get hurt. Come alone and don't inform the authorities or else. We'll be waiting._

_T_

"Damn it, I should have made at least Keldeo go with them."

Ash's Aura flared from rage and fear, he ran towards the clearing to get all the Pokémon, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Sceptile and Quilava. He looked at the pair enraged.

"Ash we know where they took Anabel and the other's."

Ash looked at them sceptically, anger still raging in him.

"We're telling the truth Ash."

Ash looked into their eyes and saw there were no lies in their eyes.

"This doesn't change anything."

They nodded.

"We know that Ash."

"Alright let's just get all the Pokémon first."

They nodded and followed Ash who started sprinting to the clearing. When he got there all the Pokémon saw him and saw the 2 treacherous Pokémon, many of them began charging attacks to blast them.

"Wait, don't attack them, for now they are our allies, Anabel, Ariana, Alex and my mother have been kidnapped by the traitors and these two are gonna lead us to them."

The Pokémon looked angry to be working with Sceptile and Quilava but understood the need to work with them. Ash returned them all except Meowth and Keldeo they followed Quilava and Sceptile. Ash decided to find out why Sceptile turned on him.

"Sceptile why'd you betray me."

"Honestly, my reason is even more pathetic than Quilava's. I was angry about the loss to Tobias, after I beat that Darkrai finding out that we lost 6 to 2, my rage clouded my judgement and I stupidly went along with them, I realised later that I'd made a massive mistake."

"Why were you both with Max?"

Quilava answered

"We didn't know where you were so we thought if we went with them it would be our best chance of finding you, but we never did."

* * *

They eventually got to an abandoned building, Ash pushed the door open and saw 'them' standing in front of him. The traitors looked at Quilava and Sceptile.

"So you two betrayed us."

They growled at them. The hooded man stepped forward out of the shadows.

"So your finally here Ketchum, it's time for my revenge."

"Who are you? What's your problem with me?"

He lowered his hood revealing a face that Ash thought he'd seen for the last time 2 and a half years ago. Ash and Meowth's eyes widened.

"Tobias? It can't be, I saw you fall from that cliff."

* * *

_Flashback (2 and a half years ago)_

_Ash had been assisting the Pokémon Rangers for the past couple of months, his most recent mission was to find a man who was capturing Legendary Pokémon using cruel measures. Ash had felt distress coming from Azelf as they still had some of their bond intact so he decided that was the best place to start._

_When he got to Lake Valor he saw Azelf clearly unable to battle but still being shocked by the container he had been trapped in._

_"Now this can stop right now as long as you swear to obey me."_

_Azelf shook his head, he would not be controlled by this man, the man pressed a button and it increased the power of the electricity that was shocking Azelf who now screamed in agony. Ash had seen enough he sent Charizard out who charged forward and smashed the container, bringing Azelf to Ash, he released Gardevoir and she began healing Azelf._

_"Who are you? Why are you doing this?"_

_"Don't you recognise me Ash?"_

_The man turned around and Ash's jaw dropped, it was Tobias._

_"Tobias why are you doing this."_

_Tobias had an evil grin on his face._

_"Capturing another Legendary Pokémon, how do you think I got my other Legendary Pokémon to obey me?"_

_Ash was stunned that this was the same man he had fought in the Sinnoh League over 3 years ago, but now it made sense how he had caught them in regular poke balls, he had tortured them until they had no choice but to serve him. Ash was furious._

_"I've got to stop you."_

_"Ha you think you can beat me? You lost 3 years ago and now will be no different."_

_"I don't think so Tobias, I'm not the same foolish kid I was back then."_

_"I seriously doubt that, but if you want to be beaten again I'll battle you on one condition, when I win you give me that Azelf over there."_

_"Deal."_

_"I'll even choose first, I'm sure you remember him. Darkrai crush him"_

_"You're way to predictable, Primeape may the Aura guide you."_

_"That's the best you have to fight me, this will be even easier than I thought. Dark Void."_

_"Take it, then use Close Combat."_

_Darkrai formed some dark energy and shot it at Primeape who stood there and was unaffected by the attack, he then charged forwards and battered Darkrai with a flurry of punches and kicks, when his bombardment ended Primeape jumped back in front of Ash. Tobias was stunned._

_"What how is that possible?"_

_"Primeape has the Vital Spirit ability which means he can't be put to sleep."_

_Tobias was worried, his main strategy had been countered._

_"Darkrai Ice Beam."_

_"Put your right fist forward and charge a Thunder Punch into your left fist, then hit him with Double Elemental Punch."_

_Darkrai fired the powerful Ice move at Primeape who's left fist crackled with electricity at the same time he raised his right fist which was frozen by the attack, Tobias smirked thinking how foolish Ash had been, but his smirk quickly vanished as he saw Primeape running forward and hit Darkrai with the frozen fist and then the electric fist sending the Nightmare Pokémon smashing into a boulder. But Ash wasn't finished._

_"Giga Impact."_

_Tobias watched as the defenceless Darkrai was sent crashing behind him unconscious, he couldn't believe Darkrai had been beaten so easily. He returned the Nightmare Pokémon._

_"Ok Latios you're up."_

_"Primeape return, Flygon may the Aura guide you."_

_The dragons sized each other up and grinned glad that they'd have a challenge._

_"Dragon Pulse."_

_"Flygon match it."_

_The attacks met in the middle and cancelled each other out. Tobias kept up the attack._

_"Dragon Claw"_

_"Do the same."_

_Both Pokémon flew at each other their claws glowed, they exchanged blows making them both descend from the attack. They quickly flew back into the air to continue their battle._

_"Latios Zen Headbutt."_

_"Use Iron Tail_

_Latios charged forward Psychic energy focussed into his head and Flygon's tail shimmered silver when the attacks collided it created a shockwave which knocked them both back, looking tired but ready for more, Ash and Tobias both called out._

_"Dragon Rush."_

_The 2 dragons clashed the power creating an explosion which sent them both crashing into some trees, they both got up but it was obvious to both trainers that they only had one more attack left in them._

_"Latios use Luster Purge."_

_"Flygon Draco Meteor."_

_Latios fired his signature move at Flygon who sent several Meteors crashing to the ground, dust covered the battlefield and when it cleared, both Pokémon had fainted. They both returned their Pokémon._

_"Suicune you're turn."_

_"Absol may the Aura guide you."_

_"Hydro Pump."_

_"Ice Beam."_

_Suicune fired a high pressure jet of water at the disaster Pokémon who shot the Ice Beam at the attack and froze it stopping the attack. Tobias growled in annoyance._

_"Use Iron Head."_

_Ash smirked Tobias was getting frustrated and now playing into his hands._

_"Match him with Megahorn then use Night Slash."_

_Suicune charged forward, his head turned metallic meanwhile Absol sickle on her head glowed and she ran at Aurora Pokémon, when the attacks clashed neither were giving any ground, Absol raised her front paws, her claws were now black and she slashed him causing him to stagger back._

_"Suicune Signal Beam."_

_Ash was worried he knew that could cause some serious damage, it was time to try the new move they'd been working on._

_"Use Bounce then use Dark Impact."_

_Suicune fired the bug move at Absol who sprang into the air dodging the attack, she was then surrounded by dark energy and began plummeting towards Suicune who was too shocked to move, when she crashed into him both trainers saw the legendary Pokémon in a crater made by the attack his body covered in cuts and bruises, then they saw Absol staggering back to Ash. Ash thanked her and she was returned to her poke ball._

_"This isn't over Ketchum go Moltres."_

_Ash looked over his shoulder at Charizard, who now stood in front of Ash ready to prove who the better Fire/Flying type is._

_"Moltres use Flamethower."_

_The Legendary sent a burst of flames at Charizard, who like Ash stood there completely unimpressed, when the attack hit Charizard was bathed in flames, Tobias looked confident until the flames died down and showed a completely unharmed Charizard. Moltres looked at him and felt something he'd never felt before..fear._

_"That the best you got? Charizard show him a proper Flamethrower then hit him with a Thunder Punch."_

_Charizard opened his mouth and shot a much bigger burst of flames at Moltres who screeched in pain, when he recovered from the attack he opened his eyes and saw the dragon flying at him with his fist crackling, Charizard threw his fist forward and sent the Legenday bird crashing to the ground._

_"Drill Peck."_

_"Flare Blitz."_

_Moltres shot back into the air straight at Charizard, his beak glowing white meanwhile Charizard was bathed in flames and charged at Moltres, the collision caused them both to be pushed back, unfortunately that meant Moltres was sent crashing back into the ground._

_"Charizard finish him."_

_Charizard flew down and grabbed the limp legendary by its neck and began flying high into the sky. When he got high enough he stopped and threw Moltres back down to earth, straight at the rocks protruding from the ground. The battlefield showed a proud looking dragon and a broken bird. Tobias' confidence was waning more by the second, he looked at Ash and saw the smug look on his face and it infuriated him._

_"Cressalia, avenge the others."_

_"Glaceon, may the Aura guide you."_

_Ash was dubious of using Glaceon as she had only evolved recently but he had faith in her abilities. Tobias looked at the ice eevelution and could tell she was inexperienced and he was very confident that Cresselia would sweep it aside._

_"Using inexperienced Pokémon is a big mistake Ash, this will be an easy win."_

_Ash and Glaceon glared at Tobias. He saw Ash mutter something to the fox but he couldn't hear what._

_"Well I'll put it out its misery, Cresselia use Psychic and throw into that boulder."_

_"Use Double Team, then use Ice Beam."_

_Multiple copies of Glaceon appeared all around Cresselia who hit one of the copies, she was then struck with an Ice Beam to her left, she attacked the there but again only hit a copy and an Ice Beam hit her from behind, she was getting annoyed._

_"Cresselia calm down, levitate the rocks and throw them at everyone single one."_

_She lifted the rocks and began throwing them at all the Glaceon, eventually she heard the real one cry out as the rock smashed into her and she skidded across the ground._

_"Now throw all the rocks at her."_

_"Quick Blizzard."_

_Cresselia again lifted the rocks with Psychic and they were sent hurtling at Glaceon struggled to get to her feet, she managed to execute the attack and froze all the rocks making them crash to the ground._

_"Two can play at that game Tobias, use Icy Wind."_

_Glaceon fired the chilled wind which carried the frozen rocks with it pelting Cresselia. Tobias thought it was time he finished it._

_"Giga Impact."_

_Ash smiled which confused Tobias._

_"Frost Smash."_

_The Pokémon charged at it each other, Cresselia was glowing white and Glaceon was surrounded with ice, when the attacks collided they heard the second member of the Lunar Pokémon cry in pain and saw her collapse as Glaceon walked away._

_"What? How is that possible? She was struggling to stand how could she beat Cresselia?"_

_"Never heard of a ruse, I knew you'd go for a Giga Impact thinking that she'd be defenceless so at the start of the battle I told Glaceon to feign injury."_

_Tobias was almost embarrassed that he'd fallen for such an obvious trick._

_"Hey Tobias I thought you were going to beat me easily."_

_Tobias was fuming, Ash was mocking him, he would not stand for this._

_"Shut up, I'm not finished yet, Meloetta destroy him."_

_"Lucario may the Aura lead us to victory."_

_Ash smirked at the furious look on Tobias' face, the look pissed Tobias off even more._

_"Use Psychic."_

_"Cancel it out with Dark Pulse."_

_Meloetta fired a wave of Psychic energy at the jackal who stood still and formed enough dark energy to surround himself in it, the attack hit Lucario but is was dispelled by the Dark attack, Tobias was at the stage where he just wanted to land a hit._

_"Focus Blast."_

_"Jump over it and use Blazing Aura."_

_Meloetta fired the attack at Lucario who easily leapt over the attack and he formed an orb of Aura which levitated in front of him, his paw was engulfed in flames and he punched the orb of Aura which now glowed blue but was surrounded in flames, it went towards Meloetta at a blistering pace and she cried out in pain when the attack hit her._

_"Lucario it's time to finish this Elemental Combat."_

_Lucario charged at Meloetta who was still doubled over trying to recover from the devastating blow she had just taken, she looked up and saw the jackal running at her his left paw engulfed in flames and his right crackled with electricity, she stood there defenceless and was subjected to his ruthless assault and she collapsed._

_Tobias looked at his fainted Pokémon, shocked, he'd never been beaten, now he only had 1 option. He turned and ran away, but he couldn't get away from Ash. Eventually Ash cornered him, Tobias looked from Ash to the bottom of the cliff, he met Ash's gaze and then fell backwards crashing into the ocean, Ash walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down but could find no trace of Tobias. His body was never found and he was pronounced dead._

_Flashback end_

* * *

"I managed to survive the fall and ended up in the Unova Region, I've spent all this time waiting for my chance for revenge and this tournament provided the perfect opportunity, and they were the perfect bait for my trap."

He pointed to the corner of the room where a light was switched on showing Anabel, Alex, Ariana and his mother, gagged and chained to their chairs. Ash growled.

"You've fucked up big time, you will pay for hurting the people I love."

The traitors smirked and released all their Pokémon. Ash sent out all of the pokemon, then Sceptile and Quilava went alongside them to battle the traitors.

"Guys take care of their Pokémon and I'll save Anabel, Alex, Ariana and my mother."

The Pokémon nodded and charged at the traitors Pokémon, various blasts of energy being fired at each other and Pokémon sent crashing into the walls. Ash ran over to his loved ones, he removed the gags they had on.

"Are you all okay?"

They nodded, Ash began breaking the chains strapping them to the chairs that were bolted to the floor.

Tobias smirked and looked at his Pokémon.

"All of you use Hyper Beam."

The 6 Pokémon charged the attacks and fired them. The women's eyes widened, Ash turned around and saw the powerful blasts headed their way, he crossed his arms in front of him closed his eyes and focussed all his Aura into making a shield and hoped that it would be enough to at least protect the people he loved, his own fate didn't matter. The women had tears streaming down their faces as they saw the Hyper Beams explode in front of Ash and he was hidden in the smoke. All that could be heard were Anabel's screams.

"ASH NO!"

* * *

Notes

What has happened to Ash? Will he be ok?

Did any of you think it would be Tobias?

Yes I know that the traitors are now acting very OOC and I'm sorry if you don't like it.

And yes before you say it, I know an abandoned building is very unoriginal.

Combo Moves

Double Elemental Punch - Ice Punch + Thunder Punch

Dark Impact - Dark Pulse + Giga Impact

Blazing Aura - Aura Sphere + Fire Punch

Frost Smash - Equivalent of Flare Blitz, Volt Tackle etc

Elemental Combat - Thunder Punch - Fire Punch - Close Combat


	18. A legendary battle

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 17 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

Ash heard the explosion created by the Hyper Beams and he then heard Anabel's screams, but he had felt no pain, had the attacks killed him instantly? But he was certain that he could still feel the barrier of Aura he had created, something didn't add up, Ash opened his eyes and was shocked at what he saw, in front of him stood a large green lizard and a large badger, both were horribly injured with blood seeping out of the wounds that now covered their bodies.

"Sceptile, Typhlosion you... you saved me."

They turned their heads and looked at Ash they both smiled at their old trainer and then their eyes shut and they collapsed. Ash knelt down to them and saw they both still lived. He looked over to the Pokémon and yelled.

"Audio, Blissy get over here and do everything you can to heal them, Gardevoir help them out."

The 3 Pokémon ran over and began healing them, Blissy and Gardevoir would normally have been reluctant to do this but they knew by the tone Ash was using that it was best not to argue with him. Ash turned around and broke the restraints holding his loved ones in place when they were free, Anabel quickly pulled Ash into a bone crushing hug and sobbed into his shirt, he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back trying to calm her. She pounded his chest.

"Don't ever do something like that again."

"Anabel if you were in danger like that again I would do the exact same."

She then pushed her lips to Ash's in a loving kiss, which took him by surprise but he quickly melted into the kiss and returned it. When they broke for air they were both blushing furiously, Ash pressed his forehead to hers.

"I promised you I won't leave you Anabel, and I will keep that promise."

She smiled.

"I know you will Ash,"

The Pokémon then ran over to their trainers in relief, they looked to the motionless Sceptile and Typhlosion with concern in their eyes, they had saved their trainers and that had earned their thanks and respect. Anabel released Ash and he looked back to Tobias who was grinning looking proud of what he'd done.

"That's it Tobias, you've pushed me to far now I'm going all out."

Ash pulled the poke ball off his necklace.

"Mewtwo let's avenge the fallen."

The genetic Pokémon appeared and glared at the people in front of him making them all get chills, he glanced back at the unconscious Sceptile and Typhlosion who were still being healed, he looked into their minds and saw what had happened, what he saw surprised him, although he was still displeased with them, he no longer hated them. They had protected Ash and those he cared for so now he would make the ones responsible for this pay.

"Everyone protect Sceptile, Typhlosion and the healers, we will deal with the scum."

The Pokémon all nodded and stood in a defensive formation around the healers and began beating back the traitors Pokémon.

"Hey Ash."

He looked to his right and saw Alex and Keldeo.

"Got room for another legendary."

Ash smirked.

"Sure let's do this."

* * *

Keldeo stepped alongside Mewtwo and looked at the 6 Pokémon they'd be battling, a Braviary, a Haxorus, an Excadrill, a Scrafty, a Eelektross and a Reuniclus. Tobias looked at the creature next to Keldeo bemused, he had never seen nor heard of a Mewtwo but by the looks of Gary who was cowering from the pokemon, it was clearly something to be feared. Luckily he hadn't revealed his best Pokémon, he pulled 6 more poke balls off his belt and threw them into the air showing Darkrai and Latios, Victini and the 3 swordsmen, Terrakion, Cobalion and Virizion. Ash now knew why they had been unable to find Darkrai and Latios' poke balls 2 and a half years ago.

Ash and Mewtwo looked at the Pokémon before them unfazed, they knew that with Alex and Keldeo this fight would be no problem. Meanwhile Alessandra was mentally cursing her bad luck, when she saw that Tobias had with him Keldeo's old teachers: Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion, she looked at Keldeo and he too was shocked.

She thought back to when they last met three years ago, when she had captured Cobalion and Virizion so she could let them meet Keldeo when she had found Terrakion again, and she remembered that day when they helped Keldeo to learn Secret Sword and to change to the Resolution forme, and then she thought of when they allowed her to have Keldeo as her official Pokémon.

Ash looked at Alex concerned.

"Alex what's up."

Alessandra hadn't heard him she was focussed on Keldeo, she knew he was reluctant to do this, so she knelt to the Colt Pokemon's level to let her look to him.

"Keldeo..." she started, making the Pokémon look to her. "Look, I know you don't want to fight the ones that raised you since that forest fire and taught you everything, but...now they're Tobias's Pokémon, and you have to find the courage to face them."

Mewtwo looked at Keldeo.

"She's right, you must face them."

"I know it's difficult, but you need to find the courage to battle them and defeat them. I know that they would have told you the same, if there was no choice."

Keldeo nodded showing he understood and that he would do what must be done. Alessandra smiled, seeing that he was now ready to fight his old teachers.

"Alright, Keldeo." she said, getting up, as he turned around. "We wanted to make this a surprise, but I think we don't have another choice. Let's show them how Resolute you had become."'

Keldeo glowed blue and his forme changed, the main difference was that he now had a large blue horn protruding from his head. Ash looked at the Colt Pokémon impressed.

"I always knew that there was something special about Keldeo, but I never expected anything like this."

"Well we were saving this for when we battled you and Mewtwo but I think this is a more appropriate time."

Ash nodded.

"Well we'll have to have that battle sometime soon."

Mewtwo smirked.

"Yes I look forward to a confrontation with him."

"So Alex do you wanna take the 3 swordsmen while we take care of the rest?"

Both Alex and Keldeo smiled.

"Sounds good Ash."

* * *

Tobias looked at Terrakion, Virizion and Cobalion.

"You three deal with the Keldeo, I'll deal with Ketchum."

The 3 swordsmen stood in front of Keldeo, dark smiles on their faces, confirming to Keldeo that they were no longer the Pokémon who trained him. They lunged at the Colt pokemon and their battle began and Tobias began his assault on Mewtwo.

"Darkrai use Dark Void."

"You're still using the same old strategy, I'm disappointed, Mewtwo deflect it back with Light Screen."

Darkrai fired the sleep inducing attack which hit the screen of energy that Mewtwo who formed and now was hurtling back in Darkrai's direction, the Nightmare Pokémon only just managed to dodge it. Tobias was frustrated that Ash had once again countered Dark Void and decided that the best thing he could do would be to bombard Mewtwo.

"Haxorus Dragon Claw, Excadrill Metal Claw, Scrafty Crunch, Braviary Brave Bird, Eelektross Thunderbolt, Reuniclus Shadow Ball, Darkrai Dark Pulse, Latios use Luster Purge and Victini use Flamethrower."

"Mewtwo use Aura Shadow Stones."

Mewtwo watched as all of Tobias' Pokémon launched their attacks, he stood their unfazed and used Psychic to raise the remnants of the destroyed floor and propel them at the charging Pokémon, he then formed several orbs of black energy and several orbs of blue energy and threw them forward, making sure they didn't hit any of the stones. The multiple attacks stopped the Pokémon in their tracks and made them go crashing back into the Pokémon that had fired long range attacks, causing the non-legendaries to struggle to get back into the fight.

"Mewtwo use Iron Tail on the ground, then you know what to do."

Before Tobias had a chance to command his Pokémon Mewtwo slammed his tail into the ground, the shockwave caused all the Pokémon stood on the ground to be launched into the air, as they were coming back to the ground Mewtwo hit Excadrill with his tail which had lost its metallic sheen and was now surrounded in water and sent him crashing into the ceiling, Mewtwo turned around quickly and hit Haxorus' jaw with his now frozen fist knocking him to the ground, as he was about to stand the unconscious Excadrill fell on top of him from the ceiling, crushing him and ending his involvement in the battle.

"Scrafty Crunch again and Braviary go for another Brave Bird."

Scrafty jumped from behind Mewtwo and bite down hard on his arm, Mewtwo turned his view to him and smirked, the look terrified Scrafty who then took a powerful blow to the abdomen.

"Thanks for the healing."

Scrafty released Mewtwo's arm and was doubled over trying to recover, Mewtwo sensed Braviary trying to attack him from behind, he quickly stepped to his left making Braviary slam into Scrafty and knocking him out, the flying was about to turn and try again when he yelled out in pain as 2 crackling hands were now grasping his wings, but the punishment wasn't over yet, Mewtwo then fired a Thunderbolt down his arms and electrocuted the helpless bird, making him lose consciousness almost instantly.

Mewtwo then batted away a Shadow Ball headed his way into the path of a Thunderbolt which negated the attacks, he focussed some psychic energy into his arm and charged the electric eel and slashed across him leaving a terrible gash that crossed most of the right side of his body and made it collapse, Mewtwo then picked up the limp eel and threw him straight at the legendaries preventing them from firing the attacks they had prepared.

This only left Reuniclus Mewtwo jumped over the psychic type and landed on his back, he slammed his fist right down on Reuniclus' head, the attack caused Reuniclus the last of Tobias' non-legendaries to faint, leaving Mewtwo against Darkrai, Latios and Victini.

* * *

Meanwhile Keldeo was dodging the attacks that his former mentor's were launching at him, he then saw an opening and was about to attack Virizion but he then saw an image of her training with him, the distraction gave Cobalion and Terrakion enough time to crash straight into him, the power of them sent Keldeo slamming into the walls. Alex yelled out in concern

"Keldeo."

Tobias saw that Keldeo was down.

"You three forget him and help deal with Mewtwo."

They turned away from Keldeo and charged at Mewtwo who barely manged to dodge them. Alex ran over to the prone Colt Pokémon.

"Are you okay."

Keldeo didn't answer, he couldn't even bring himself to look at her. He was ashamed that despite everything he'd seen, he was still unable to bring himself to fight his former mentor's, he looked at Mewtwo who was now fighting off the 6 Legendary Pokémon, but was losing ground.

"Mewtwo Psychic Repulse."

Mewtwo created a barrier of Psychic energy around himself and then released it to send all the Pokémon crashing into the walls, the attack had clearly taken a lot out of him and while he was recovering he had no time to dodge Cobalion who cut a gash across Mewtwo's left side. The genetic Pokémon staggered back and clutched his side.

"Ash I need help, I can't do this alone."

Ash was about to call out Charizard when he saw a blue blur charge past him and slam into Terrakion who crashed into Virizion and the pair were left in a heap, Mewtwo then lifted Cobalion and threw him at the prone swordsmen. Alex nodded at Ash.

"Keldeo finish them with Aqua Impact."

"Mewtwo Ice Beam."

Keldeo became surrounded in water and shot off towards the 3 swordsmen all his doubts forgotten, Mewtwo then fired an Ice Beam at him freezing him solid. When Keldeo rammed into his former mentor's they were sent hurtling across the room crashing into the wall. This left Mewtwo and Keldeo against Darkrai, Latios and Victini. Tobias was getting desperate now.

"Darkrai use Dark Pulse, Latios Luster Purge and Victini use Fusion Flare."

"Keldeo take the Dark Pulse."

"Mewtwo make the other two attacks collide with each other."

Darkrai fired a wave of Dark energy that was headed for Mewtwo, but Keldeo stepped in the way and benefited from the power boost it gave him. Latios and Victini launched their attacks, the burst of flames and the dragon powered shockwave hurtling towards Keldeo, both attacks were then outlined in blue and changed course hitting each other and nullifying the attacks. All 3 looked exhausted, Ash and Alex took advantage of their weakness.

"Keldeo Hydro Pump."

"Mewtwo use Psychic to speed it up."

Keldeo shot a stream of water at Tobias' exhausted Pokémon, the Psychic power accelerated the attack and it hit Latios, Darkrai and Victini, the power from the attack sent them slamming into the wall and they slumped to the ground.

"Alex it's time to put them out of their misery."

"Yeah you're right, Keldeo use Hyper Beam."

"Use Psychic to split it into several beams and direct them at each of Tobias' Pokémon."

Keldeo fired a Hyper Beam, the blast was far larger than Tobias' 6 Pokémon had managed all together, it was then surrounded in a blue glow and it was split into several smaller beams which were all aimed at his Pokémon, the attacks created an explosion and left all the Pokémon looking in almost as bad a state as Sceptile and Typhlosion. Alex saw all the injured Pokémon and for the first time she had no desire to help them.

* * *

Tobias fell to his knees still trying to process what had happened. Ash and Alex saw the broken man and smiled, they turned around and walked over to the healers who had finished, both Pokémon still looked in bad shape but were considerably better than before.

"Blissy, Audio, Gardevoir how are they? Will they be okay?"

"Honestly Ash we don't know, they took 6 Hyper Beams between them, we've never had to heal that sort of punishment before. We've done all we can it's just down to them really."

Ash nodded and prayed they'd be okay, they had saved him and the people he loved and for that alone they deserved a second chance.

"Hey can you heal up Mewtwo he took a nasty cut to his side."

They nodded and went to the genetic Pokémon who winced as his wound was healed, he looked at Blissy and Audio.

"Thank you both, I appreciate it."

Ash glanced at the buildings destroyed interior and the unconscious Pokémon belonging to Tobias and the traitors that were scattered around, as he scanned the room he saw Cobalion, Virizion and Terrakion and had an idea.

"Hey Alex why don't you take the Legendary swordsmen? I can tell there is still some good in them and in time they could return to their former selves."

She looked at them and knew that Ash was right, and she felt as if she owed it to them, after they trusted her with Keldeo she knew that this was her chance to repay them.

"Yeah Ash you're right."

"Mewtwo you know what to do."

His eyes glowed blue and Tobias' poke balls shattered, Alex then took out 3 of her own and captured Cobalion, Virizion and Terrakion. This snapped Tobias out of his state of shock at losing again, 2 and a half years of planning and training had been wasted. He was devastated and knew that this time there would be no escape.

"So Ash you've defeated me again, I have nowhere to run so I guess you'll hand me over to the G-Men."

Ash turned his attention to Tobias and his Aura surrounded him, his voice became dark and cold.

"Oh I will Tobias, but I'm not done with you yet."

Tobias looked at Ash and was petrified. Ash began walking towards Tobias when he felt someone grab on to him.

"Ash."

He looked and saw it was Anabel, his eyes softened at the sight of her and his Aura was no longer flaring.

"Come on Ash let's go, you've beaten him and the G-Men are on their way."

Ash was confused.

"How did they know to come here."

Anabel looked at Alex who was holding her Pokenav.

"I recorded the whole thing, luckily they didn't check us because they are such morons. I just sent the recording to the police who informed the G-Men, and they have tracked the location of my Pokenav."

Ash wasn't surprised, Alex had always been resourceful. He turned his gaze back to Anabel.

"Okay I'll see you outside in a minute."

Anabel nodded and Ash watched her leave with the others, Charizard and Raikou carrying the injured Sceptile and Typhlosion, this left just Ash, Tobias, the traitors and their Pokémon in the building.

Tobias breathed a sigh of relief thinking he'd been saved from Ash's wrath, but he was wrong. Ash charged some Aura in to his fist and shot forward, he punched Tobias in the stomach, shattering his ribs and causing him to cough up some blood, he then collapsed clutching his stomach, groaning in pain. Ash knelt down to Tobias who was in excruciating pain.

"Consider yourself lucky, if it hadn't been for Anabel you'd have never walked again."

Ash turned around and left, the now terrified traitors sat there looking at Tobias who was writhing around in agony and were thanking anyone who was listening that Ash hadn't done that to them, Lance and the G-Men arrived moments later and arrested them, quickly getting Tobias to a hospital.

* * *

Notes

So this is where the traitors part in this story ends.

I've been told I should mention this, so I will - Bayleef will not be back with Ash, sorry if I have disappointed any of you..

Quilava evolved to protect Ash.

I'd like to thank Legendary Fairy as she was again a big help with her OC

Combo moves

Aqua Impact - Aqua Jet + Giga Impact

Aura Shadow Stones - Shadow Ball + Stone Edge + Aura Sphere


	19. A long day ends and a longer day begins

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 18 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

Ash, Ariana, Delia, Alex and Anabel are all walking towards the clearing, their Pokémon all still out and forming a protective circle around them, Ash had one arm wrapped protectively around Anabel and his other had some Aura charged in it ready incase anything happened, the days events leaving him and the Pokémon worried for their safety. Ash was switching his view from his loved ones to the still motionless forms of Sceptile and Typhlosion, Anabel saw the worried look on his face and tried to reassure him.

"Don't worry Ash, I'm sure they'll be fine."

Ash was hoping she was right, after what they'd done he wanted to tell them how much he appreciated what they'd done and that he had forgiven them.

"Yeah you're right they'll be fine."

* * *

When they got back to the clearing all the Pokémon broke the circle and went to their trainers happy that they were safe, they all went off to various areas but made sure that their trainers and Ash's mother were always in view, Ash released his grip on Anabel and the Aura in his hand vanished, he went to where Sceptile and Typhlosion had been placed and leaned on a nearby tree, but like the Pokémon made sure his loved ones were always in view.

He saw Alessandra was scratching Keldeo's chin and heard her talking to him.

"You've done great, Keldeo, you did it, even if you had to face the ones that had raised you and taught you everything you know. All of us are proud of you especially me and I bet that Terrakion, Cobalion and Virizion will be too when we make get them back to how they were."

Alessandra looked to Ash and the others, before looking back to her Team, she walked over to Ash who was still looking at the Pokémon who had saved him from those Hyper Beams.

"Ya know? Keldeo wasn't the only one that was reluctant to fight Virizion, Cobalion and Terrakion. I was too."

Ash turned his attention briefly to her.

"I'm not surprised, I mean they allowed you to keep Keldeo and showed a lot of faith in you. By the way how did you meet them? You were pretty vague on the details."

"I have met them twice before today, the first time was when I heard the Legend of the Sacred Swordmen and Keldeo and I knew I had to meet them. The second time I brought Keldeo with me to have a reunion with his old teachers to do so I had to capture Virizion and Cobalion too, just to make sure that all four were in the same place. Once I found Terrakion again, I released Virizion and Cobalion because I knew that Unova needed them, they let me keep Keldeo as a sign of their trust in me."

She stopped briefly to collect her thoughts.

"I wonder what would have happened if instead of freeing them, I kept them and caught Terrakion. Maybe things could have been different and Keldeo might not have had to fight his teachers."

"You can't beat yourself up over this Alex. Sure had you caught them Tobias wouldn't have but Unova could have seen a lot of problems because of their absence."

"Yeah you're right and like you said they were needed more there than with me. Today Keldeo had to face an important decision, but as I told him, I felt that his teachers would have wanted him to stop them if there was no choice."

"I'm sure that when they are back to their old selves they will be proud of you both."

Alex smiled and then yawned the days events had drained her, Ash saw that she was not the only one as Ariana was asleep and his mother and Anabel were both on the verge of joining her.

"Go get some rest Alex, you need it after what's happened today."

She nodded, all of sudden to tired to give a verbal response she went to her Pokémon and lied down all of them forming around her just as Ariana and Anabel's Pokémon had done. Ash looked at their sleeping forms and went to talk to Flygon, Charizard and Butterfree.

"Hey I need you three to do me a favour."

They all nodded.

"After today I want to make sure they are safe for the rest of the tournament so if I'm not with them can you guys keep an eye out, I know that Alex will have Keldeo out so you won't need to watch over her, but I want you to look out for my mother, Ariana and Anabel."

Again they all nodded, Charizard then added.

"Sure Ash we'll make sure they're safe and don't worry we'll stay out of sight."

"Thanks guys."

The 3 of them went off, Charizard and Butterfree joined Ash's other Kanto Pokémon who had positioned themselves around his mother, Ash smiled at what he saw, he then turned his attention back to the 2 injured Pokémon and vowed to stay with them so he'd be there when they woke up.

* * *

In the early hours of the morning Ash was drifting in and out of sleep, Sceptile woke up and he looked over to Typhlosion who was also coming to, they both rubbed their heads cursing the headaches that plagued them.

"Hey Quilava is that you?"

"Yeah I evolved to protect Ash, so are we dead or what?"

It was at this point that Ash saw the Pokémon leaning up and talking to each other, he got up and went to them the only thing stopping him from hugging them both was his knowledge of their injuries.

"Sceptile, Typhlosion you're okay. Guys, I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate what you did, you put your lives on the line for me and the people I love, thank you so much."

Ash had tears in his eyes, happy that they were going to be okay. They both replied.

"It's the least we could do for you Ash."

Ash smiled at them, he looked at their still wounded bodies.

"Hey you should get some rest, although the worst of your injuries have been healed you are both still pretty banged up."

Both nodded their heads, causing them both to wince reminding them of said injuries as they were about to fall asleep Ash spoke up.

"Oh by the way if you look to your side you'll see something that belongs to you."

They both turned over and saw a red and white sphere.

"The choice is..."

Ash didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as they had both tapped the capture button on the poke balls, Ash smiled happy that they were okay and that they were now back with him. He sent them back out and they both immediately drifted back off to sleep with smiles on their faces, Ash left them and went to Anabel, he lied down next to her and fell to sleep.

* * *

The next morning Ash woke up and decided to let the other's get some more rest as after the kidnapping must have taken a lot out of them both physically and mentally, he looked at the time and went to see if Paul and Richie were waiting for him. He left a note saying where he was going so they wouldn't worry.

When Ash got to the Pokemon centre he saw Richie with Sparky on his shoulder as always and Paul with his usual look of indifference. When they saw Ash they were confused about why he was alone.

"Hey where are the other's?"

"After what happened yesterday I thought they should rest up a bit, both Paul and Richie looked at Ash even more confused than before.

"So are you gonna tell us what happened then? Or are we gonna have to start playing 20 fucking questions?"

Ash had temporarily forgotten that something that made Paul even more pissed than usual was not knowing what was going on, he proceeded to tell them the events of yesterday, infuriating them both.

"I hope you made those bastards pay."

Ash knew Richie must be pissed as he very rarely swore.

"And I hope Alex didn't pull any of that healing bullshit again."

And it looked like Paul is still pissed about that, then again now that Ash thought about Charizard still was and yesterday's event will have done nothing to help with his rage.

"Oh they paid alright, you should have seen the look on their faces when I shattered Tobias' ribs and to answer your question Paul, no she didn't, she didn't even wanna try."

All four of them grinned and entered the Pokémon centre, inside they saw that the T.V was on, they watched and saw that the traitors were the main story, the 4 of them listened to the reporter.

"Yesterday May Maple, Max Maple, Dawn Berlitz, Gary Oak and Tracey Sketchitt were arrested and are being charged with kidnap, it is believed that they will plead guilt as there is apparently overwhelming evidence."

They chuckled at the fate of the traitors

"Also Tobias, the winner of the Sinnoh League six years ago will also be charged with kidnap and cruelty to Pokémon along with several other crimes linked to him, his trial shall take place as soon as he is out of the hospital, he was rushed in yesterday with several broken ribs and several internal injuries."

The four of them all laughed hysterically at the fate of Tobias. Paul was the first to calm down and his serious side re-emerged although a smirk was still present on his face.

"Come on let's see who our next victim's are."

They walked to the desk and Nurse Joy handed Ash his schedule first, he looked at it and the happy look on his face instantly changed to a sad one, the schedule fell from Ash's hand and he silently turned and went to leave the Pokémon centre, raising the hood on his cloak and keeping his head down the whole time ensuring no one could see his face. Richie tried to get an answer from Ash.

"Ash what's wrong?"

They got no response as he went through the doors leaving them all bemused at what could cause their friends sudden change. Sparky saw the schedule on the floor and jumped off Richie's shoulder and picked it up, he looked at it and his ears drooped. Richie saw the sad look on his friends face.

"What is it Sparky?"

Sparky handed his trainer the schedule.

"Rai Rai."

Richie and Paul looked at it, the three of them then turned their gaze to the doors of the Pokémon centre, Sparky and Richie with a sad look on their faces and surprisingly even Paul had a look of sympathy on his face.

* * *

Notes

Sceptile and Typhlosion are back and will battle in a couple rounds time.

That is the official end of the traitors part in the story, they may return in an epilogue but that is just a possibility right now.

Just want to say another thanks to Legendary Fairy who has again been very helpful with her OC Alex, please check out her work it is very good stuff.

Next chapter Ash has his toughest battle yet, how will he do?


	20. All's fair in love and Pokemon

Thanks for the reviews guys. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 19 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

Ash was walking, he didn't know where he was going and he honestly didn't care, the only thing going through his mind was his battle tomorrow against Anabel, every time he thought about it he saw all the good times he'd had with her in the last few weeks and it would bring a smile to his otherwise troubled face. Then the smile would fade when he thought back to what happened yesterday and what Scott and Greta had told him.

"How can I battle her?"

It was a rhetorical question, but a baritone voice gave him an answer.

'Ash there is a way that you wouldn't have to.'

"What's your idea?"

Ash was willing to do almost anything.

'Well you can use me to battle her and...'

"NO. I'm sorry but I won't use you against Anabel, it wouldn't be fair."

'I knew you'd say that. You're just going to have to rely on the Pokémon you choose, but you know as well as I do that although they'll have a big advantage in power, without you instructing them, they will probably lose.'

Ash just nodded and kept walking.

* * *

Meanwhile Anabel, Alex, Ariana and Delia entered the Pokémon centre expecting to find Ash waiting there for them but only saw Richie with Sparky on his shoulder and Paul, all with rather sad looks on their faces. They went over to them to see if they knew where Ash is.

"Hey Paul, Richie do you know where Ash is."

Richie and Sparky looked down and even Paul averted his gaze.

"No we do not, he left a while ago, he didn't say where he was going."

The four women were all highly confused at their behaviour.

"Hey what's wrong."

"Go get your schedules first, then we'll tell you."

Alex and Anabel did as Richie asked and got schedules from Nurse Joy. Alex looked at hers and didn't give much of a reaction, Anabel on the other hand looked shocked for a moment then looked quite happy.

"So what's the problem with me and Ash battling?."

Paul spoke up for the first time since they'd entered.

"Are you really that blind?"

Richie jumped to their defence.

"Now hold on Paul, they haven't seen Ash as much as we have over the last few years, they won't know everything about him yet."

They were even more confused than before.

"I don't understand, what are you talking about?"

Anabel wanted, no needed to know what was wrong with Ash, Richie sighed.

"Listen, Ash puts on a happy exterior around you but the truth is that he is still carrying a lot of guilt on his shoulders, he repeatedly blames himself for what his disappearance put you through over the last 6 years and yesterday's events can't have helped."

Anabel looked down, the ground suddenly becoming very interesting. She mumbled a response.

"So what does that mean?"

Paul turned and began walking towards the doors.

"It means that even though Ash is more powerful than you, he will probably lose to you."

Paul then left the Pokémon centre, Richie sighed again.

"I hate to say it but I agree with Paul. Don't blame yourself Anabel, it's just how Ash is."

Richie followed Paul, leaving them all stunned at the revelation, they knew Ash always put other's before himself and did blame himself often for things outside of his control but they didn't think he took things this bad. They agreed to split up and try to find him, they didn't notice three flying Pokémon tracking their moves.

* * *

Ash had finally decided to return to the clearing and tell his Pokémon about their opponent tomorrow, his Pokémon saw him coming and approached him, the smiles on their faces soon disappeared when they saw the sullen look on his.

"Tomorrow we'll be battling Anabel."

Several of them looked down knowing how hard this must be for him, Glaceon and Gardevoir were taking it slightly worse, he looked at them.

"Don't worry I'm not using either of you, I wouldn't wanna make you have to fight your mates."

Both of them looked up gratefully.

"I promised you guys that we would come here and win this and I intend to no matter who we are battling."

He looked at his Pokémon and pointed to 6 of them.

"You six are battling tomorrow."

They nodded and all went back to what they were doing before his arrival. Ash sat down and took a nap, waiting for when the others would find him.

* * *

It was late afternoon by the time the other's came to the clearing, when they found him he was training with Lucario, Ash sensed Anabel, Alex, Ariana and his mother arrive and the distraction caused him to take an Aura Sphere to his gut, the impact caused him to fall to one knee.

"Master I apologise."

"Don't worry Lucario, it was a good attack, you're getting more powerful, I'm impressed and stop calling me Master."

Both trainer and Pokémon looked at each other and then started laughing, Ash's loved ones rushed over to him worried after seeing the attack hit him, Anabel wrapped her arms around him.

"Ash are you okay?"

He nodded and returned the embrace.

"Yeah I'm fine, I've taken worse, you don't need to worry about me."

She broke the hug happy that he was okay, she decided she was going to talk to Ash about the match but not until they were alone, she knew he probably wouldn't say much with his mother, Ariana and Alex here.

They spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing, although Ash was sometimes training with his Pokémon, as it got late Alex, Ariana and Delia decided to return to their hotels, Charizard, Flygon and Butterfree took off not long after they left, Ash went and lied down to get some sleep and prepare himself for tomorrow Anabel came and lied down next to him.

"Please Ash, I want to have this battle with you, please stop feeling guilty over the past, I don't blame you for what happened and nobody else does. I want to fight you at your best and I don't want you to hold back"

Ash looked at the woman he loved, he couldn't say no to her, after a short pause he sighed

"Ok Anabel, in our battle tomorrow I promise I won't hold back."

She smiled and rested her head on his chest and quickly fell to sleep, Ash wrapped his arms around her so she was tight in his embrace, he looked at her and his thoughts were racing he knew it would be hard but he would keep that promise.

* * *

The next day Ash is sat in the locker room waiting to be called, he heard his and Anabel's name and he exhaled, he pushed himself to his feet and walked out the tunnel when he entered the arena he saw Anabel waiting for him on the other side of the battlefield. Anabel looked back hoping Ash would be able to battle at full capability, the referee broke her out of her reverie.

"This battle is between Ash Ketchum and the Salon Maiden Anabel, this will be a full 6 vs.6 battle, when one person has lost three Pokémon there will be a short break while the battlefield is changed, substitutions are allowed. Ash Ketchum will choose his Pokémon first."

Ash pulled the first poke ball off his belt.

"Lucario may the Aura guide you."

Anabel then did the same.

"Gallade my friend come on out."

The two fighting types stared each other down, now they got to fight properly instead of just sparring.

"Anabel you can go first."

"Ok, Gallade use Psychic."

"Dark Pulse."

Gallade fired the wave of Psychic energy at Lucario who like he had done in the past used Dark Pulse to negate the attack, making Anabel feel rather foolish for not remembering that Ash had used that before. She was now weighing her options she knew that Psychic attacks would be useless because of Dark Pulse so she had to go for his fighting moves and she had the perfect plan.

"Focus Blast, then charge and use Drain Punch."

"Aura Sphere, then Aura Uppercut."

Both Pokémon formed an orb of energy and launched them, the attacks collided and shrouded the battlefield in dust. Gallade then went charging through the dust and met Lucario who had done the same, Lucario got hit by a Drain Punch and Gallade was hit with an Aura infused uppercut. After they recovered from the attacks, they jumped back in front of their trainers, Anabel had seen Gallade practicing with Lucario and saw him learning some of his techniques, she knew he had perfected this one and decided to try it out.

"Elemental Combat."

"Lucario do the same."

The fighters charged, both of them having one fist crackling with electricity and the other engulfed in flames. They engaged in combat and although Gallade was by far the most skilled fighter he had met in the tournament thus far Lucario still managed to overpower him only taking a few hits in return. Gallade staggered back in front of Anabel who knew that Gallade only had one attack left in him. She decided to try one of the moves Ash had taught her, she knew it was a risk as they hadn't got it mastered but it was their best chance.

"Gallade Focus Beam."

"Lucario finish it with a half strength Aura Blast."

Gallade formed an orb of energy in front of him and then began charging a Hyper Beam meanwhile Lucario took a fighting stance and put both his arms back and formed an orb of Aura in his hands (Imagine a Kamehameha from DBZ) they both fired, sadly Gallade hadn't perfected the attack so it was weaker than usual making the beam of Aura cut straight through the combo move and it knocked him out.

"Gallade is unable to battle, select your next Pokémon."

Anabel silently thanked her friend, and cursed herself for trying that technique when they hadn't perfected it. Ash saw the look on her face and knew that she was beating herself up about it.

"Anabel."

She turned her attention to Ash.

"Don't beat yourself up over what just happened, in your place I'd have done the same. Now let's continue our battle."

Anabel gave a nod and smiled, she took a poke ball off her belt.

"Bronzong come on out my friend."

The steel type hovered in the air in front of Lucario, Ash knew he had to get Lucario out of this fight as that attack drains him even at half strength. He just wasn't sure who to use, Bronzong was a tricky one to face, now he was wishing he'd chosen Charizard. He quickly made his choice and took Lucario's and one of his other poke balls off his belt.

"Well done Lucario, have a rest. Flygon may the Aura guide you."

He knew that Anabel would use Bronzong Levitate ability to avoid his non-flying Pokémon, so Flygon was the only counter Ash had to that.

"Bronzong use Flash Cannon."

"Counter with Dragon Pulse."

Bronzong gathered silver energy inside its body and then it fired a silver beam of energy at Flygon who had fired a shockwave of dragon energy, the attacks clashed and cancelled each other out.

"Iron Zen Headbutt."

"Fire Claw."

Bronzong charged at Flygon his body had now turned silver and was outlined in blue, at the same time Flygon shot a Flamethrower at his claws which were now engulfed in flames and met Bronzong head on, both Pokémon connected with their attacks but Bronzong seemed to come off worse.

"Fire several Shadow Balls and enhance them with Psychic."

"Dodge them and use Dragon Breath."

Bronzong fired multiple Shadow Balls at the dragon who showed amazing aerial skill dodging all of them, when he got close Flygon opened his mouth and shot the Dragon Breath point-blank at Bronzong and although it didn't do much damage that was never the goal. Both trainers saw that Bronzong was now paralyzed thanks to the Dragon Breath. Ash saw that this was his opportunity to end this.

"Flygon use Dragon Rush."

"Use Heavy Slam."

Flygon flew straight at Bronzong who felt the effects of the paralysis and was unable to move, Flygon slammed into him and sent Bronzong plummeting to the ground, he smashed into the battlefield which created a tremor and Bronzong was shrouded in dust, when the dust cleared everyone could see Bronzong pull himself out of the crater but it was clearly taking a lot of effort to stay in the air. Ash was surprised that Bronzong had managed to keep going, he was about to call out an attack when he saw Anabel return Bronzong and tell the ref that she was withdrawing it from the battle.

"Bronzong has been withdrawn, choose your next Pokémon."

"Mr Mime it's your turn my friend."

Ash decided to continue with Flygon.

"Earthquake."

Flygon flew down and slammed his tail on the ground which created a massive tremor, knocking Mr Mime off his feet and destroying what was left of the already ruined battlefield. Mr Mime got to feet and looked ready to battle.

"Dragon Pulse."

"Make a barrier out of the rubble."

Flygon fired the shockwave at Mr Mime who only just managed to lift the debris of the battlefield and create his shield. The attack hit the rocks and was stopped but it destroyed the majority of the shield Mr Mime had made, making Anabel's idea that she'd used in a previous round now impossible.

"Repeatedly use Steel Wing."

"Ice Punch."

Flygon shot at Mr Mime like a bullet, his wings taking a metallic sheen he struck the Barrier Pokémon and flew off and hit him at a different angle, he kept doing this until Mr Mime did get a few hits in one of which crucially clipped one of his wings freezing it and sending Flygon crashing to the floor. Mr Mime quickly ran forward and hit Flygon as he was getting up with another Ice Punch sending making him stagger back in front of Ash. Ash considered returning the dragon, but Flygon turned around and the look in his told Ash that he wanted to keep battling. One look at Mr Mime told Ash that the Steel Wings had done quite a bit of damage to him.

"Dragon Claw

"Use Future Sight, then use Ice Punch again."

Mr Mime closed his eyes and launched the attack the attack that would activate later, Flygon closed the distance between them and hit him with another Dragon Claw creating gashes across Mr Mime's body making him fall to his knees, he managing to hit Flygon with a weak Ice Punch which knocked the dragon back. Ash could see that Flygon was running on empty and had to finish this quick.

"Draco Meteor."

The exhausted Mime could do nothing to stop the meteors now hurtling his way and was knocked out by the bombardment. Flygon glided back to the ground looking triumphant but then a blue glow surrounded him the effects of Future Sight kicking in, which caused the last bit of damage to finally make him faint.

"Mr Mime and Flygon are unable to battle which means Anabel has lost three Pokémon so there will now be a short break while the battlefield is changed."

* * *

The short intermission gave both Ash and Anabel a chance to speak with their Pokémon and strategize. They heard their names called and walked back out to the battlefield. They looked at the battlefield which has been changed and it is now a water field which has a series of islands scattered across the water.

Ash smirked glad that he'd chosen his next Pokémon, he was curious to see what Anabel's response would be.

"Lapras may the Aura guide you."

Anabel pondered for a moment, she knew Ash would call Lapras back if she chose Raikou so that left Espeon and Alakazam.

"Alakazam my friend it's your turn."

Ash had hoped Espeon would be her next choice, he contemplated switching Lapras out but he saw the look of determination in her eyes and knew that she wanted to fight now.

"Use Ice Beam."

"Dodge it."

Lapras fired the attack at Alakazam who jumped to another platform making the attack miss him completely, Ash knew that speed was going to be an issue here, he just hoped he could think of something quick before Anabel got Alakazam to...

"Use Thunder Punch on the water."

Shit. He only had seconds to think of something, he suddenly remembered what happened in the Orange Islands when he was trying to win the Coral-Eye Badge from Cissy and was praying that it would work here.

"Lapras use Ice Beam on the water then jump on the ice."

Alakazam had finished charging the electricity into his hand and plunged it into the water, electric current quickly spreading to the entire pool. Just as the electricity was about to hit her, Lapras froze the water in front of her and got on to the ice, however she wasn't quite fast enough and was hit by some of the electricity, it hurt but she had taken worse in the last few years.

"Fire several Thunder Blasts."

"Use Blizzard and send them back."

Alakazam formed several orbs of energy, his fists then crackled and he punched all the orbs so they were now infused with electricity, they were travelling at Lapras who created a massive frozen wind sending it in Alakazam's direction. The attack freezing several of them and propelling them back at Alakazam causing some damage, but many of the attacks pushed through the Blizzard and hit Lapras doing some major damage. Both Pokémon were looking tired but Lapras was the worser looking of the 2, Ash decided to go for broke and hope that Lapras could take Alakazam down with her.

"Frost Smash."

"Psychic Rush."

Lapras became surrounded ice and Alakazam was glowing blue with psychic energy, they charged at each other, Lapras gaining a lot of momentum on the ice. When they collided the light given off from the attacks blinded everyone, when the people could see the Pokémon again they saw that Lapras had fainted and Alakazam was looking exhausted but still conscious.

"Lapras is unable to battle, choose you next Pokémon."

Ash returned her and murmured a thank you, Ash then looked to the cat on his shoulder.

"Meowth finish it quick with Night Fury Swipes."

Anabel didn't get a chance to give any instruction as in seconds the cat jumped on to the battlefield and charged at Alakazam, his claws now pitch black and began bombarding him with slashes making Alakazam faint under the devastating assault. She returned Alakazam, thanking him for his efforts.

"Espeon my friend come on out."

The Psychic Eeveelution came out and looked at Meowth looking forward to a good fight. Anabel looked at the battlefield for anything she could use to her advantage but due to the ice freezing the water and the minimal damage done to the islands she didn't have much to work with. She then formulated a plan.

"Espeon use Swift and enhance it with Psychic."

"Hidden Barrage."

Espeon formed and fired the stars which glowed blue and began spinning even faster, Meowth on the other hand formed 6 red orbs that were sent straight at the stars, he then added a horde of stars to them and finished it off with firing a several rays of light that could be mistaken for gem stones. The attacks clashed and Espeon's Swift was quickly overwhelmed, Ash and Meowth were looking quite happy until they both saw the look of confidence on Anabel's face.

"Protect."

Espeon created a barrier almost instantly and the remainder of Meowth's attack hit the barrier and ricocheted off, most of it smashing the battlefield turning several parts of it to rubble and shattering the ice. Ash was impressed at the brilliant albeit risky strategy she had used there.

"That was impressive Anabel, I never expected you to pull off a strategy like that."

She blushed under the praise, but quickly remembered that they were battling.

"Thanks Ash, now Espeon use Psychic on the debris and throw it at Meowth."

Espeon did as asked and several bits of the ruined battlefield were levitated in the air, she then shot them straight at the cat who was deftly dodging the majority of the debris, but was still being struck by shards of ice and stones. The barrage seemed to weaken Meowth who now appeared to be exhausted and struggling to keep upright. Anabel saw that Meowth was struggling and thought this was her chance to knock him out.

"Psychic Rush."

Espeon charged at Meowth who still looked to be struggling, she leapt at the last minute about to strike the finishing blow but Meowth, who was now grinning, twisted his body and his now metallic tail slammed into Espeon's side and she went skidding along the ground and smashing straight into the arena wall. Ash was taking no chances.

"Thunder Pulse."

Meowth fired a Water Pulse and then shot a Thunderbolt at it, the attack hit the prone Espeon and easily finished her off. Anabel was stunned, but then realised that Meowth probably had a lot of practice deceiving people and she had fallen for his ruse hook, line and sinker.

"Espeon is unable to battle, choose your last Pokémon."

Anabel returned her first Pokémon and pulled the last poke ball off her belt.

"Raikou my friend let's win this."

Ash chose to 'return' Meowth who took his usual place on Ash's shoulder.

"Luxray may the Aura guide you."

They both sent out the electric Pokémon who looked ready and raring to go, Ash decided to get Luxray and Raikou warmed up.

"Luxray Thunderbolt."

"Raikou do the same."

Both Pokémon fired a bolt of electricity at their opponent the two attacks clashed and nullified each other.

"Dark Stars."

Anabel didn't know what this attack was as she had never heard Ash use this, she knew that her best choice was to use one of the more defensive moves they had.

"Use Hidden Power."

Luxray formed several shining stars in front of him, but instead of firing them as usual he struck them with his paws which were now surrounded in dark energy, each star turning from a shining white to pitch black, when they were all tainted with the dark energy Luxray directed them at Raikou. In response Raikou had created several orbs of ice around him and shot them at the approaching stars, Anabel had used this tactic in the past to stop attacks and the frozen orbs stopped several of the stars but the rest sliced through the ice and hit Raikou leaving cuts where they had impacted on the Legendary pokemon.

"Use Metallic Quick Attack."

Raikou smirked and then seemed to disappear, Luxray managed to track his movement and was only just dodging the series of attacks being launch at him until eventually Raikou rammed right into Luxray's flank making him stagger back.

"Luxray use Discharge on the battlefield and when Raikou comes into view use Iron Tail."

Luxray did as told and shot electrical energy across the battlefield making Raikou leap into the air to dodge the attack, Luxray saw his foe and leapt up with his tail now shimmering silver and slammed it into Raikou's gut making him crash to the ground in front of Anabel, he managed to get to his feet and watched Luxray land on the ground. Both Luxray and Raikou knew how they wanted to end this, they looked to their trainers, both understanding their Pokémon and nodding in approval.

"Wild Impact."

Anabel was now praying that Luxray had got Raikou to perfect this.

"Raikou do the same."

Both Pokémon became surrounded in electricity and quickly charged, when the attacks hit they were pretty even but Raikou was being pushed back slowly, until Luxray completely overpowered him sending Raikou crashing into the wall causing him to faint. Luxray walked back towards Ash.

"Raikou is unable to battle, Ash Ketchum wins."

Ash returned Luxray with pride, he saw Anabel do the same with Raikou and then walked to meet Anabel in the middle of the battlefield. When they reached each other they embraced, smiles on their faces.

"Thank you for going all out Ash."

"I made you a promise and I always keep my promises and it was a good battle."

She nodded and they left the stadium seeing Ariana and Delia waiting outside for them, the four of them decided to go and see if they could catch any of Alex's battle.

* * *

Notes

It was hard trying to make Anabel good in battle but still show that Ash was far superior, I hope I did a good job.

So Anabel has now been eliminated which of the group will be the next to be eliminated?

By the way disclaimer: I don't own DBZ

Combo Moves

Focus Beam - Focus Blast + Hyper Beam

Thunder Blast - Thunder Punch + Focus Blast

Iron Zen Headbutt - Iron Head + Zen Headbutt

Fire Claw - Flamethrower + Dragon Claw

Dark Stars - Swift + Night Slash

Metallic Quick Attack - Iron Head + Quick Attack

Wild Impact - Wild Charge + Giga Impact


	21. Alessandra displays her power

Hi guys, The Return of the Betrayed Guardian has just hit 200 followers, when I started this I never expected it to become this popular. I'd like to thank everyone who has followed/favourited this story and give an extra thanks to all of you who took the time to review. It's your reviews that motivate me and make me want to make every chapter as good as I can.

Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 20 hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

As they were walking towards the stadium Alex was battling, Ariana was praising Ash and Anabel.

"Anabel Ash those moves were incredible, Ash you and Alex should have a contest battle sometime, that would be amazing."

Ash, Anabel and Delia chuckled at Ariana's enthusiasm.

"I'm sure one day me and Alex will have that battle."

Ash looked at Meowth and thought about the Pokémon who had just battled, he took the only poke ball he hadn't used off his belt and threw it in the air revealing Pidgeot.

"Hey Anabel why don't you let Pidgeot take our Pokémon back to the other's so they can rest, as long as Pidgeot doesn't mind."

"Of course I don't mind Ash."

Anabel nodded in agreement.

"That's a good idea Ash."

Anabel took her poke balls and handed them to Meowth who was also carrying Ash's poke balls, Pidgeot leant down and Meowth climbed on to the flying types back. She ascended into the air and took off at a slow pace. The four of them watched Pidgeot and Meowth fade into the distance.

"Right let's get to stadium two, hopefully we'll get to see some of Alex's battle."

* * *

They got to the stadium just in time for the beginning of the second half of the battle and managed to find some seats in the packed arena, Ash looked to the board and saw that Alex had only lost one Pokémon so far which was Dusty her Dustox. Ash saw Alex pull a poke ball off her belt.

"Dark! Illuminate the Darkness!"

The Pokémon revealed was the dark Eeveelution who instead of the usual yellow rings on its body he had blue ones instead. Their opponent smirked and chose his Pokémon.

"Sableye, you're up. Let's start things with Will-o-Wisp."

Alex couldn't believe how stupid this guy had just been.

"Take it."

Dark was the only Pokémon Alex would tell to stand there and be afflicted with a status ailment. Sableye had created some purple flames which engulfed Dark and burnt him. Her opponents smirk soon vanished as he saw that his Sableye was now burnt too, he wondered what had happened when he remembered that Umbreon mostly have the ability Synchronise, he cursed himself for his own stupidity. The physical moves he had taught Sableye were now pretty much useless.

"Signal Beam."

"Dig and use Dark Pulse, then hit him with a Shadow Ball."

Sableye fired an oddly coloured beam at Dark who dug underground long before the attack was near him and it merely passed over the hole he'd dug. Sableye looked back and forth trying to guess where the Umbreon would appear from. Suddenly the ground beneath him turned black and he was hit by the Dark Pulse, he leapt into the air to get away from the attack, Dark chose that moment to burst out the ground, he watched Sableye and judged his trajectory firing a Shadow Ball at where he thought Sableye would land. His calculation was correct and the Shadow Ball slammed into Sableye and sent him straight into the arena wall and he slumped to the ground, somehow he managed to stagger to his feet.

"Recover."

"Dark end it with Shadows of Darkness then use Heal Bell."

Sableye glowed and began healing the damage it had sustained meanwhile Dark formed several Shadow Balls around him and then shot a Dark Pulse at Sableye the Shadow Balls darted forward with the Dark Pulse and began merging with it until it became a wave of black energy which engulfed Sableye, when the darkness faded Sableye could be seen on his side and unconscious, the sound of a bell ringing could be heard and Dark's burn was healed.

"Sableye is unable to battle, choose your next Pokémon."

Before her opponent could choose a Pokémon Alex decided to recall Dark incase she needed him later.

"King! I choose you!"

"Roserade let's win this."

Alex's Unova starter slithered in front of her and stood proud and ready to battle Roserade.

"Hit that snake with Toxic Petals."

Roserade was surrounded by leaves but they had a hint of purple in them and poison could clearly be seen dripping from them.

"Stop them with Leaf Storm."

Like Roserade, King was surrounded by leaves however his were not coated in poison. Both Grass types launched their attacks and it appeared that they had cancelled each other out, but that was not the case some of Roserade's poisoned leaves had gotten through and hit King who was now suffering with poison. Alex winced, she knew that the poison damage would begin to do more and more over time so she needed to end this quick.

"Now let's finish him with Sludge Bomb."

"Shield yourself with Iron Tail."

Roserade shot a lot of poison at King who put his now metallic tail in front of him negating the poison attack and making Alex's opponent have to think of a new strategy.

"Hidden Power."

This worried Alex as there was no way to know what type it was until his Roserade fired it, she thought of a perfect way to counter and perhaps finish Roserade off.

"Twister."

King created a Twister in front of him in the same way he created the Leaf Storm not so long ago, he directed it at Roserade and fired, as it travelled across the battlefield some debris that was scattered on the battlefield was picked up and became a part of the Twister. Roserade had formed several red orbs around her showing that her Hidden Power was fire, she launched the attacks at King but was shocked to see them be sucked into the Twister that was headed her way. Due to her shock she hadn't even tried to dodge and was now trapped in the vortex being pummeled by stones and hit by her own attack, as the attack petered out Roserade could be seen face down on the battlefield and struggling to stay conscious.

"King let's end this use Iron Blade."

King's tail took a metallic sheen again and then it glowed green, he quickly crossed the battlefield charging at Roserade who was pushing herself to her feet, she looked up and saw the serpent rushing towards her and could do nothing to block his tail which slammed into her mid-section launching her into the air and making her crash down in front of her trainer.

"Roserade is unable to battle, choose your last Pokémon."

"Staraptor it's up to you."

Alex knew that leaving King in would be pointless, so she took the only poke ball she hadn't used off her belt and threw it.

"Time to Surf on, Aqua!"

When Aqua was revealed Anabel and Ariana were confused, last time they saw Aqua it was an Eevee but it was a Vaporeon that now stood in front of Alex."

"When did Aqua evolve?"

Ash smiled.

"I slipped a Water Stone into Alex's pocket a couple of days ago and she's obviously used it to evolve Eevee."

Aqua was relishing the chance to battle in her first non sparring match since she had evolved.

"Aqua let's start with Bubblebeam."

"Stop them with Air Slash."

Aqua fired a stream of bubbles at the airborne Staraptor who in response started firing blades of wind at the bubbles popping them. Alex was surprised he'd fallen for her trap

"Now hit him with Swift."

Staraptor was too busy stopping the Bubblebeam that he couldn't react to the stars fired at him which hit him and caused some damage to Staraptor who looked more irritated the hurt by the attack. Alex decided to kick it up a notch.

"Ice Aqua Jet."

"Sky Attack."

Staraptor was cloaked in a harsh light, at the same time Aqua had shot off with Aqua Jet and used Ice Beam to freeze it. As Aqua approached Staraptor the Sky Attack was ready and he charged at the frozen Aqua, when the two clashed the power caused damage to them both and they were knocked back, which for the flying Staraptor was fine but Aqua was now falling back to the earth. When she crashed down it created a small crater, Staraptor glided back to the ground and saw Aqua pull herself out of the crater she was in but she looked exhausted.

"Close Combat."

Staraptor charged at Aqua who was still recovering from the last attack and she was pummeled by Staraptor, when his attack had finished Aqua was struggling to stand and you could see her legs wobbling, Alex knew that she only had enough energy for one more attack so she was going to make it count.

"Hydro Beam."

She knew that this was a risk, they hadn't had a lot of practice using this technique especially when Aqua had taken this much damage, but this was their only chance to win.

"Dodge it, then hit her with a Brave Bird and finish it with Giga Impact."

Aqua nodded and fired a Hydro Pump which was outlined in a rainbow of colours, Alex was praying her attack would work as that combination of moves would easily knockout Aqua. unfortunately hers prays weren't answered and the power and direction of Aqua's attack were not right making Staraptor's job easy. The flying type easily dodged the combination move, he tucked his wings in and slammed full force into the exhausted Aqua sending her skidding across the ground. Alex saw that Aqua was in no state to continue and then saw Staraptor lining up to hit her with Giga Impact, she looked across the battlefield at her opponent.

"Please stop."

But he didn't, Staraptor continued his assault and charged the motionless Aqua, Alex fumbled on her belt for Aqua's poke ball but couldn't get it quick enough and the defenceless Vaporeon was hit by the Giga Impact and sent crashing into the wall behind Alex.

"AQUA!"

She ran over to the Eeveelution who han't moved since being hit by the Brave Bird. By now Ash had shot up from his seat and it was taking Anabel, Ariana and his mother to stop him going into an Aura rampage and attacking Alex's opponent. Back on the battlefield Alex had sent out Audio and Blissy who were busy healing Aqua, she heard the referee speaking.

"Vaporeon is unable to battle, choose your next Pokémon."

Alex looked at Aqua who was still unconscious, she felt guilty for using Aqua so soon after she evolved and for using such a risky move, she turned her attention to her opponent and felt something she very rarely had... hate she would avenge Aqua.

"Dark! Illuminate the Darkness again!"

Dark looked at his fellow Eeveelution and began to feel the same hatred that Alex was feeling. By now Ash was back in his seat albeit reluctantly, he had started calming himself down when he saw the worried look on Anabel's face and it had reminded him of the promise he made her. A smile was back on her face seeing Ash calm but she still was worried for Aqua.

"Dark use Quick Attack to get close then Crunch."

Dark shot off at an incredible speed towards Staraptor, he landed a hit straight to the flying types gut temporarily winding him this gave Dark the opportunity to sink his teeth into Staraptor's right-wing causing him to cry out in pain, he collapsed to the ground and was in a heap. Dark backed off and was walking around Staraptor like a hunter toying with his prey, Staraptor was using his one good wing to push himself upright.

"Close Combat."

Alex shook her head, she couldn't believe he'd ordered Staraptor to do that, with only one wing still useable his Close Combat would not be much of a threat.

"Jump over and slam down on his back then hit him with a Dark Pulse."

As his wing was now immobile Staraptor was reduced to trying to run towards the still circling Umbreon, as the flying type approached Dark jumped causing Staraptor to stagger and then collapse when Dark slammed down on his back. Dark's body turned black and all that energy was then sent straight down on Staraptor who was again yelling out in pain. Somehow Staraptor was still conscious, Alex was tired of this, she was going to end this now.

"Hyper Pulse."

Her opponent panicked not knowing what that was.

"Hyper Beam."

Both Pokémon launched a Hyper Beam however Dark's was pitch black, the attacks collided but the combination of Dark being much more powerful and tiredness taking over Staraptor, the flying type was overpowered. He was engulfed by the dark beam and went slamming into the arena sidewall clearly unable to continue.

"Staraptor is unable to battle, Renshi has now lost his last Pokémon meaning Alessandra Cesarini wins."

Alex saw her opponent turn and leave, she had considered following but decided he wasn't worth her time. She spotted Ash and the other's in the crowd and walked out the stadium to meet them.

* * *

When she got outside she saw Ash, Ariana, Anabel and Delia. Ash walked up to her and hugged her, she returned it.

"Hey Alex that was a great battle how is Aqua?"

"She's going to be okay, Blissy and Audio managed to heal most of her wounds."

They broke the hug and Alex saw Ash had channelled some Aura into his fist.

"Do you want me to teach him a lesson?"

"No Ash he's not worth it."

Ash nodded and the Aura disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Ariana ran up to Alex

"The moves you used were awesome Alex, I was saying to Ash that the two of you should have a contest battle."

Like Ash, Anabel and Delia, Alex chuckled at Ariana's passion for contests.

"Well I'm sure we can arrange that after the tournament."

When Ariana had calmed down, Alex looked at Ash and Anabel.

"So how was your battle?"

They both smiled at the memory.

"It was a very good battle, Anabel used some brilliant strategies."

Anabel blushed under the praise.

"You still beat me Ash."

"That doesn't make what I said any less true."

Ash saw the time and knew that Paul and Richie's matches had probably finished.

"Hey let's see if we can find Paul and Richie at the Pokémon centre and find out how they did."

The 5 of them all turned in the direction of the Pokémon centre, Ash, Anabel and Alex describing their battles to each other, when they reached their destination they saw Paul looking smug and Richie and Sparky looking happy.

"So you guys both won."

They both nodded.

"Yeah we fought weaklings."

"I've gotta agree with Paul our matches were pretty easy."

The group spent a while discussing their battles, after a couple of hours everyone decided to go their own ways Ariana and Delia went back towards the high street, Ash saw Charizard and Butterfree follow them, Paul went to train again and Richie and Alex decided to catch up.

* * *

Ash and Anabel are walking to where their Pokémon currently resided to check on how their Pokémon were after the battle today, when they got to the clearing they weren't really surprised by what they saw. Glaceon and Gardevoir were being very overprotective of their mates shielding them from pretty much anything, the most entertaining being when a flock of Pidgey flew from a tree which made them fire a Psychic enhanced Blizzard their way, luckily Ash and his Pokémon were ready and fired several attacks to block the Blizzard.

As it got late Ash and Anabel decided to sleep in the clearing again, they looked at their pokemon and saw that Glaceon and Gardevoir were still fussing over Espeon and Gallade, said pokemon looked more then happy to be getting so much attention from their mates, but they did appear to be exhausted. Glaceon and Gardevoir laid down next to thier mates, the Eeveelutions wrapped their tails together and Gardevoir and Gallade embraced each other. All four Pokémon quickly fell to sleep, Anabel and Ash like their Pokémon drifted off to sleep not long after.

The next morning the group were all at the Pokémon centre, the ones still in the tournament were relishing the chance to get an even stronger opponent. Nurse Joy handed them their schedules for the next round, Richie, Thomas and Paul had plain looks on their faces clearly not particularly worried about their next opponents. Ash and Alex then looked at their schedules and grins broke out on their faces, they turned to look at each other.

"Well Ash it looks like we're finally going to have our rematch."

"I can't wait."

* * *

Notes

Next chapter it is the battle between Alex vs. Ash.

Will Alex be the first person able to give Ash a real challenge?.

Combo moves

Hyper Pulse - Hyper Beam + Dark Pulse

Shadows of Darkness - Shadow Ball + Dark Pulse

Toxic Petals - Toxic + Petal Dance

Hydro Beam - Hydro Pump + Aurora Beam

Iron Blade - Leaf Blade + Iron Tail


	22. Ash vs Alex a challenge at last

Hi guys thanks for the reviews. Remember advice is welcome.

I'd like to wish legendary Fairy who created Alex a very happy birthday.

Here's chapter 21 hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

"Hey guys when is your match?"

Richie was desperately hoping his match wouldn't clash with theirs because this was a battle he wanted to see.

"We are battling two days from now in stadium 1 at midday."

Richie quickly looked at his and thanked his luck seeing his match was scheduled for 10am in stadium 1.

"Arceus dammit. I can't believe I am gonna miss that match to fight Flint."

Paul was shouting and looked pretty pissed.

"Paul we all know you can take Flint down no problem so just finish him quickly and you probably won't have missed much."

Ash's attempt at calming Paul down appeared to have worked and he now just muttering curses under his breath.

Alex felt Keldeo nudge her, she looked at him and remembered that they both had something important to ask Ash.

"Ash can I ask a question?"

"Sure, what's up?"

Alex sighed.

"I was wondering if you were going to use Mewtwo in our battle."

"You want him to fight Keldeo."

Both Alex and Keldeo responded.

"Yes."

Ash paused to think through his response.

"I'm sorry but no."

Both Alex and Keldeo looked down dejectedly.

"It's not that I don't want them to battle, but I want to keep Mewtwo as a surprise for later in the tournament. But how about the first chance we get after the tournament we have Keldeo and Mewtwo battle?"

Their expression changed back to smiles immediately.

"Ok Ash we understand."

"Why this sudden desire to fight us?"

"When we met, Keldeo was with me for a year, and we were training so that Keldeo could master Secret Sword and Sacred Sword and help him with his Resolution Form, but we hadn't made much progress when we met, that's why I never asked you for a battle with Mewtwo against my Keldeo."

Ash nodded understanding her reasoning.

"In these two years we continued to train and now he mastered both Resolution form and Secret Sword and Sacred Sword. I hope we can give Mewtwo a good match."'

Ash was about to reply but he was interrupted by a pouting Ariana.

"Wait a minute you two promised me you'd have a contest battle."

Everyone chuckled at her pouting, Delia commenting on how cute she thought the expression was making Ariana turn bright red from embarrassment.

"I'm sure that we can find time for that after the battle."

The pouting red-faced girl turned away and muttered.

"You'd better."

They all snickered at Ariana who was now walking away, Delia went after her saying they were going shopping. The flying types were about to follow when they saw Ash direct them back to the clearing, they noticed Ash press the button on Mewtwo's poke ball said Pokémon vanished in seconds, they knew that he was now tracking Ariana and Delia. Ash and the other's all went their separate ways to train for their matches.

* * *

When Ash and Anabel got back to their Pokémon Ash called his too him, they all went to him hoping they'd get a much more challenging opponent.

"Guys we're battling Alex."

His Pokémon looked ecstatic to be battling her and were all hoping they'd get to battle. Ash chose 6 Pokémon, the other's all looking sad to not be battling.

"Hey you'll get to battle in one of the next rounds providing we get through."

They grumbled and walked away. Ash watched them walk away but was distracted by Gardevoir who was looking anxious.

"Um Ash can I sit out the next round?"

Ash was confused by her request.

"Ok, can I ask why?"

"I'm just not feeling too well right now."

Ash was kind of disappointed as he had wanted to battle with her, but he wouldn't battle with her if she wasn't feeling well, he smiled at her to show it was fine.

"Ok Gardevoir, you rest up, maybe you can be ready for the next round."

She nodded and floated away to Gallade, they went off to find somewhere private.

"Did you tell him?"

She looked away ashamed that she had lied to Ash.

"No, I said I was feeling too ill to battle."

Gallade was shocked to hear this, she saw his expression and knew what he was probably thinking.

"I know Gallade I shouldn't have lied to Ash, but how can I tell him the truth?"

He embraced his mate.

"I know it'll be hard but you can't hide your pregnancy forever."

She started crying in his embrace, Gallade was glad that they had gone somewhere private, but they weren't as alone as he had thought, a certain dragon had been listening all along, said dragon's eyes had widened considerably after hearing the news. He'd followed them after Gardevoir had said about illness and he thought something was up and now he knew the truth. The only thing he had to do now was figure out what he should do with the knowledge, he flew back towards Ash and decided to talk to Gardevoir first and give her the chance to tell Ash the truth or else he would.

* * *

After a long days training Ash and Anabel decided to return to the hotel, Flygon knew this would be his best chance to talk with Gardevoir, he flew down to his adopted daughter.

"We need to talk, alone."

She nodded and followed Flygon wondering what he wanted to talk about. Flygon had taken them to the area Gallade had taken her to earlier today. He stopped and hovered in the air in front of her a blank expression on his face.

"I can't believe you mated with him during the tournament and got yourself pregnant. Why couldn't you wait a few weeks?"

Gardevoir was angry that he was judging her and said something she didn't mean, but should not have said.

"Well Luxray and Absol haven't stopped because of the tournament."

She immediately regretted what she said and saw that Flygon was infuriated. He was only just controlling his anger, had any other other Pokémon said that Flygon would now be attacking them viciously, but he couldn't bring himself to hurt Gardevoir. His voice was cold when he responded.

"HOW DARE YOU!"

She shrunk back in fear.

"You know what those two have gone through over the past couple of years and that Absol can't..."

He cut his sentence off, he couldn't bring himself to say it, his eyes were now filled with sadness and rage. He shook his head and looked at Gardevoir.

"After his match vs. Alex you will tell Ash the truth, if you don't I will and I'll tell him and the other's what you said just now."

He turned around and left the now weeping Gardevoir alone.

The next day was spent training again and developing some last minute strategies to combat Alex and by the night Ash knew they were ready.

* * *

The day of their battle had come, Richie who had won his match earlier, Delia, Anabel and Ariana were anticipating a great battle between Ash and Alex. Both of said trainers were sat in their locker rooms, preparing themselves for this battle, they heard their names called and walked into the jam-packed stadium.

"This battle is between Ash Ketchum and Alessandra Cesarini, this will be a full 6 vs.6 battle, when one person has lost three Pokémon there will be a short break while the battlefield is changed, substitutions are allowed. Ash Ketchum will choose his Pokémon first."

Ash looked at the battlefield and saw that it was quite a mixture of battlefields, it was mostly a grassy plain but was broken up by some boulders and a couple of pools. Seeing the pools of water he decided to use them case the next battlefield didn't have any water features.

"Milotic may the Aura guide you."

"Lumy! Time for a battle."

Alex had clearly had the same thought and decided to use Lumineon when she knew there was water on the battlefield. Ash was surprised to see Lumy though, he'd assumed Aqua would have been her choice, but then after the last round she may not have completely recovered.

"Lumy Silver Vortex."

Lumy fired a wind that seemed to sparkle with silver dust, she used her butterfly like wings to create a vortex that took some of the water from the pool and the Silver Wind, she sent the vortex at Milotic. Who was now trapped inside the vortex taking damage, Ash knew he had to think of something quick, then his battle with Ursula came to mind.

"Milotic manipulate the vortex with Twister, send it back and fire a Dragonbreath at it."

Milotic created a vortex of her own which absorbed Lumy's, she then shot a breath of dragonic energy at it which intertwined with the other attacks within the Twister, she shot it at the amazed Lumy who was broken out of trance by Alex.

"Block it with Icy Wind."

Alex knew this would only stop some of the attack but Blizzard would have been less reliable and slower. Lumy fired the frozen wind at the Twister headed her way, which stopped some it but as Alex expected the majority of the attack got through and did some damage to Lumy.

"Psy Ice."

"Hidden Pulse."

Lumy shot a beam of ice which was surrounded by a Psybeam and Milotic launched a shockwave of dragon energy which was surrounded by several yellow orbs, the attacks clashed causing more destruction to the battlefield, the ice broke through the Dragon Pulse and the Hidden Power overpowered the Psybeam, both Pokémon were hit and slammed into the sides of the pools they were in causing them both to cry out in pain.

"Hidden Bounce."

"Counter Shield then Iron Head."

Lumy fired several yellow orbs that crackled with electricity and then sprang into the air, to Alex's surprise it wasn't a water move Milotic was using, instead she was creating the vortex by putting herself into the middle of a twister she had formed outside the pool. The orbs hit the twister and were negated, Ash was glad he had taught Miotic to use Twister for Counter Shield, her head then turned metalic and she looked up and saw Lumy descending towards her, she used her tail to push herself into the air and the pokemon clashed in the middle, neither of them could gain an advantage, eventually the power of both attacks separated them sending Lumy flying through the air and making Milotic crash into the battlefield. Alex saw her chance to take an early lead.

"Hydro Beam."

"Hyper Pump."

Both Alex and Ash were going for their most powerful move hoping to end this, Lumy fired a jet of water that shimmered with a rainbow of colours and Milotic shot a Hyper Beam that was surrounded in water. The two attacks clashed and they were equal, the power of the two attacks then caused an explosion which Lumy and Milotic were caught in, both trainers cried out to the Pokémon concerned about their safety. When the battlefield could be seen again it showed both Pokémon had fainted from the attacks.

"Lumineon and Milotic are unable to battle, both trainers choose your next Pokémon."

Both trainers returned their Pokémon thanking them for their efforts.

"Flare! Blaze on!"

Ash looked to Meowth who jumped off Ash's shoulder and on to the battlefield squaring up to Larvesta.

"Signal Thrower."

"Thunder Pulse."

Flare shot an oddly coloured beam which was engulfed in flames which was met by an orb of water that crackled with electricity. The flames were doused by the attack and it shot straight through the Signal Beam impacting on Flare and causing her to cry out from being hit by the water. But Flare quickly recovered and was ready for more.

"Wild Blitz."

"Dark Impact."

Flare charged at Meowth and she was engulfed in flames but you could also see electricity crackling from her, Meowth became surrounded by dark energy and charged at Flare. Their attacks clashed but it was obvious to all that Flare was weaker and she was overpowered by Meowth. Flare was down, she looked across the field and saw Meowth standing, she wanted to beat him, no needed to beat him. She cried out and glowed white and seconds later a Volcarona was now hovering above the battlefield.

"Flare you evolved, I'm proud of you."

Flare looked at her trainer clearly happy that she'd finally evolve after desiring it for so long, Ash smiled he was happy for Blaze he'd known of her longing to evolve and was glad that he'd been able to help her.

"Heat Hurricane."

Alex knew using a move they'd never even practised before was crazy but they had discussed the idea for a long time and she just hoped that she would be able to do what they had talked about. Luckily she was able to do the attack, Flare flapped her wings incredibly fast making Meowth dig his heels into the battlefield to prevent himself being blown away, Flare then added a Heat Wave to the Hurricane the distraction of the heat made Meowth lose focus and he stopped digging his heels in, he was blown straight into the arena wall, he pulled himself from the wall and walked back on to the battlefield grinning.

Alex looked at the condition of both Pokémon and knew her best chance was to do something drastic but this was crazier then using Heat Hurricane. Flare looked back at Alex and she nodded

"Hyper Signal Thrower."

Ash had not been expecting that and decided to try one of their experimental moves.

"Hyper Thunder Gems."

Flare shot an attack similar to what she had done earlier but this time the attacks power had been amplified by the Hyper Beam. Meowth fired a Hyper Beam that was crackling with electricity and was surrounded by some rays of light that resembled gems. The attack clashed but the amount of power it took to sustain the attack took it's toll on Flare and although at first they looked even she eventually got weaker and weaker until her attack had stopped completely and she collapsed, she was then hit by the attack and knocked out, but Meowth looked incredibly tired from the attack.

"Volcarona is unable to battle, choose your next Pokémon."

Ash knew he had to get Meowth out of there otherwise he would be on the wrong end of a Mach Punch from Blaze.

"Meowth come on back."

The cat nodded and ran made his way back on to Ash's shoulder.

"Flygon may the Aura guide you."

Alex wasn't surprised by his decision to return Meowth or his choice of Flygon who she knew was probably his best all rounder.

"King, I choose you!"

The serpent slithered in front of Alex and stared down Flygon both Pokémon looking raring to go.

"Use Toxic Storm."

Serperior created a whirlwind of leaves that were now dripping with poison, debris from the battlefield was pulled into the whirlwind and it was fired at Flygon.

"Sandstorm."

Flygon began spinning around and sand was now swirling around the battlefield which stopped the whirlwind, this made King frustrated that he had so easily countered the new combo move they had been working on, what was making it worse was that his vision was impaired by the sand and Alex couldn't see into the Sandstorm to give him any help. Outside the Sandstorm Alex knew that she had to get rid of this sand right away.

"Sunny Day."

"Dragon Rush."

Serperior shot an orb of light into the air making the sand disappear and the sun to shine brightly. When he looked down he saw Flygon slam into him, King went crashing across the battlefield, he pushed himself up looking frustrated.

"Solarbeam then Vine Whip."

Thanks to the sun Solarbeam required no charging and it was shot at Flygon, who managed to strafe out of the way but was caught by some vines that now restricted his movement. Alex looked and saw that Ash was surprisingly calm considering the predicament Flygon was in.

"Solar Pulse."

Flygon struggled against the vines but it was pointless, the Solarbeam that had been enhanced with Dragon Pulse hit Flygon and he was lost in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared Flygon was covered in cuts and bruises and appeared to be limp in King's vines, he decided to lower Flygon down to the ground and then Flygon's eyes shot open and he smirked, his arms that were still trapped by King's vines were engulfed in flames, causing King to cry out from the searing pain shooting down his vines. He tried to retract them but Flygon grabbed them and flew into the air taking King into the skies and decided to take a leaf out of Charizard's book and threw the serpent down to the earth and shot a Flamethrower after him. Alex watched on terrified for King's safety, but her worries left when she saw him rise from the burning crator he was in. She was shocked that Flygon was alright but then she remembered briefly seeing light around Flygon before Kings attack hit, she guessed that he'd used Protect which had taken most of the damage, but he did look in pain so he must of taken some punishment from the attack.

"Elemental Dragon Combat."

"Iron Blade."

Flygon channeled dragon energy into his claws and then his right hand became engulfed in flames and his left crackled with electricity. Meanwhile King's tail turned metallic and glowed green, both Pokémon charged, King landed his hit first slamming his tail into Flygon stomach but the dragon wasn't knocked back and he began slashing King with his claws each hit causing serious damage. When the assault ended Flygon flew away and landed in front of Ash, he was clutching his stomach clearly in pain and King had fainted.

"Serperior is unable to battle, we will now have a fifteen minute break while the battlefield is changed."

* * *

Both trainers were sat in their locker rooms, Alex although she had lost 3 to Ash's 1 knew that Flygon was pretty much done and unless Ash had no other choice he probably won't reappear and she'd also weakened Meowth. Meanwhile Ash wasn't as excited as people would think, but he knew she still had Blaze and Leaf which were her strongest Pokémon so the battle was far from over. When they heard their names called they went back outside and saw it was a rock field now. Up in the stands Paul had just joined the others, he had decimated Flint so he could get here.

"Well at least I'm here to watch the good part of the battle."

Anabel and Delia looked at Paul confused, hadn't all this battle been good? Paul saw their confused faces and spelled it out for them

"Alex hasn't used her best Pokémon yet, this battle could still go either way."

They all turned their attention back to the battlefield when they heard the referee.

"The battlefield has been changed, Alessandra chooses her Pokémon first."

"Blaze! Let's Blaze the field with your fire!"

"Pidgeot may the Aura guide you."

Ash knew that even with type advantage this would be a tough fight, her Infernape was powerful and if Ash wasn't careful he could lose Pidgeot quickly.

"Flamethrower."

"Dodge and use Hurricane."

Blaze shot a stream of flames at Pidgeot who easily dodged thanks to her aerial capabilities and began flapping her wings incredibly fast, the gale force winds were pushing Blaze back until he was lifted off his feet and launched into one of the boulders on the field. Alex needed to stop Pidgeot's attack quick, she then noticed the rubble that had been made by Blaze smashing into the boulder.

"Flame Edge."

Blaze caught sight of the rocks on the ground and knew what she meant, he picked up the stones and his fists were engulfed in flames, he threw the stones which were now flaming at Pidgeot who was pelted by the flaming rocks which stunned her and stopped the Hurricane. She remained air-borne but was clearly hurt by the attack.

"Air Slash."

Pidgeot fired several blades of wind at Blaze who dodged some of them but the majority hit, Alex was trying to think of something she could do to change the flow of the battle, again she looked to the battlefield and knew her only chance of getting Pidgeot out of the air was pelting her with more rocks.

"Blaze keep using Flame Edge until you knock her out of the sky."

Blaze did as told and he kept picking up rubble from the battlefield and as before set them alight and threw them at Pidgeot, whose aerial prowess again shone through and she dodged several of the rocks but more and more were hitting so Ash decided to change strategy.

"Use Twister and send the stones back at Blaze."

Pidgeot flapped her wings creating a Twister in front of her which pulled all the stones being fired her way in, she shot it at Blaze and both he and Alex had cocky looks on their faces which confused Ash, the Twister hit Blaze doing some damage and throwing him into the air. It was then that Ash realised what their real intention had been and he'd fallen for it. Blaze landed on Pidgeot's back and began pummeling her back with Close Combat and didn't stop until she'd been battered to the ground. Blaze leapt off her and landed in front of Alex, they watched Pidgeot slowly push herself up using her wings.

"Flare Impact."

Ash knew that Pidgeot couldn't win now all he could hope for was that she'd some damage to Blaze.

"Brave Impact."

Blaze became engulfed in flames and charged at Pidgeot who had tucked her wings in and was flying at the fire monkey. The Pokémon clashed but as Ash expected Blaze overpowered Pidgeot and sent her colliding into one of the rock formations, the attack did seem to take a lot out of Blaze so his next Pokémon should be able to take him down. As he thought this Blaze cried out and flames shot off him showing that his ability Blaze had been activated.

"Pidgeot is unable to battle, choose your next Pokémon."

Ash returned Pidgeot and shut his eyes apologising to her for his stupidity. He opened his eyes and took his next poke ball off his belt.

"Scizor may the Aura guide you."

Everyone looked surprised at the choice, although Infernape had been weakened he was still a fire type with it's Blaze ability activated. Alex although confused knew that you should never underestimate Ash.

"Flamethrower."

"Quick Metal Slash."

Blaze shot a burst of flames at Scizor who sped away with Quick Attack and then slashed Blaze's right flank, he shot some flames there but hit thin air as Scizor had sped away and now slashed his left, this kept happening until Alex changed her strategy.

"Overheat."

Blaze released flames in all directions, both trainer and Pokémon were confident that they'd at least hit Scizor but were sadly mistaken and saw Scizor standing proud in front of Ash, the energy it took to use Overheat made him feel weak and he went down to one knee.

"Iron Impact."

Scizors body turned a metallic silver and he charged at Blaze who had managed to get to his feet but he looked exhausted from the battle, Scizor slammed into the fire monkey's abdomen which didn't knock him back but he did collapse to his knees holding his stomach. Alex could see that Blaze had nothing left to give.

"I forfeit Blaze."

"Infernape has been forfeited, send out your next Pokémon."

"Drayda! Let's show them how strong you are!"

The shiny Dragonair came out amazing everyone with her beauty. Ash had a funny feeling Drayda would be next, he was wondering whether she was going to evolve like Flare had.

"Bullet Punch."

Scizor sped towards Drayda his claws had turned metallic, Ash was curious why she hadn't called out an attack and then it hit him, but before he had the chance to stop Scizor it was too late.

"Flamethrower."

Drayda opened her mouth and shot flames point blank at Scizor who cried out in agony and quickly broke away from the flames which had obviously done a lot of damage but worse he had also been burnt by the attack. Ash was cursing himself again for his stupidity, decimating the traitors had made him forget that he wasn't the only person who could trick opponents. Ash knew that Scizor was pretty much finished, he didn't have many moves that weren't physical so his attacks thanks to the burn were nigh on useless. He decided to just try and tire Drayda out as much as possible.

"Iron Impact."

"Ice Rush."

Scizor body was once again turned metallic and he charged at Drayda who had readied a Dragon Rush and charged Scizor firing an Ice Beam to freeze the attack, she slammed into Scizor and overpowered him, his tiredness and the effects of the burn reduced his strength significantly and he was sent sprawling.

"Elemental Meteor."

Drayda launched a Draco Meteor and then froze it with Ice Beam and covered it with Thunderbolt, she launched the meteors at Scizor and they crashed to earth, the bombardment was too much for Scizor who was still recovering from the last attack and he was knocked out.

"Scizor is unable to battle, choose your next Pokémon."

Ash was almost certain Leaf was her last Pokémon which was why he was going to save his last Pokémon for her.

"Flygon may the Aura guide you."

He knew it was risky after his earlier battle but Flygon will do more against Drayda than he would against Leaf.

"Dragon Pulse."

"Match it."

Both Dragons fired a shockwave of energy and they clashed negating each other, but leaving both dragons looking tired, people around the stadium were curious about what was making Dragonair so tired, but Ash knew, it was the danger of combining several powerful moves at once which drained the Pokémon. Ash took a look at Flygon and knew that whatever attack he launched next would be his last one for this battle.

"Draco Meteor."

Ash would usually have used an Elemental Meteor but he knew Flygon didn't have the strength to use that so a regular Draco Meteor will have to do.

"Hyper Breath."

Flygon fired several meteors at Drayda who fired a Hyper Beam that was outlined in Dragonbreath. Both Pokémon had focussed on their attack and were hit by their opponents attack full force. Smoke shrouded the battlefield, when the smoke cleared everyone could see Flygon and Drayda in two of the several craters littering the battlefield.

Both Pokémon are unable to battle, choose your Pokémon."

Both trainers looked proud at the dragons and returned them to their poke balls.

"Leaf! Come on, let's have a battle!"

She was just hoping that Ash would have something like Sceptile as his last Pokémon

"Glaceon may the Aura guide you."

Sadly her hopes were dashed, Ash knew that Leaf would be one of her Pokémon and that if there is one thing Glaceon hates it's losing to a fellow Eeveelution, Alex was just glad the sun was shining as that would reduce the power of her ice moves.

"Frozen Shadows."

"Slice them apart with Magical Leaf."

Glaceon formed several Shadow Balls and fired them at Leaf and freezing them with Ice Beam. Leaf fired several leaves forward and they cut straight through the attack and hit Glaceon doing some damage.

"Iron Blade."

"Iron Tail, then hit her with Ice Beam."

As Kings had done earlier Leafs tail turned metallic and glowed green she ran at Glaceon who's tail had also turned metallic, both Eeveelutions jumped in the air and swung their tails, Leaf won the exchange and Glaceon hit the ground but quickly stood up and shot an Ice Beam where Leaf was about to land. She timed her shot perfectly and Leaf could be heard crying out from the ice attack, Ash wanted to keep the pressure on so he quickly launched another attack.

"Frost Smash."

"Leaf Charge."

Glaceon's body was covered in ice and she charged at Leaf, at the same time Leaf had become surrounded in a green glow and shot off towards Glaceon, the two clashed and they were both flung back landing in front of their trainers. Both Eeveelutions had taken some punishment but it appeared that Glaceon had come off worse. Alex knew she had to finish Glaceon off quick if she was to have any chance of winning, so she went for her most powerful move.

"Last Hope."

Ash muttered something to Glaceon but no one knew what he'd said.

Leaf sent a barrage of stars at Glaceon, which was distracting her and preventing her from launching any attack, meanwhile she had charged a Solarbeam, when the barrage of stars finished she launched the Solarbeam which sent Glaceon skidding across the battlefield, Leaf then shot off using Quick Attack and hit the prone Glaceon with Last Resort. Leaf was unable to move, but looked triumphant which changed to stunned like everyone else as she saw that after that barrage Glaceon had managed to stand up, a light was shining around her showing that her Wish had taken effect, but even with the healing her legs were wobbling and she wouldn't last much longer but she was still able to battle and she looked determined. Alex was wondering when he'd told her to use Wish and then she remembered him muttering something to Glaceon just before Leaf started attacking.

"Frost Impact."

Alex could do nothing as the amount of energy it takes to do Last Hope means Leaf has to rest for a while to recover her strength, Ash knew this which is why he was reluctant to create similar moves for his Pokémon. Glaceon became encased in ice and ran at the immobile Leaf, the power of Giga Impact enhancing the attack, both Alex and Leaf knew it was over and closed their eyes as Glaceon smashed into Leaf and sent her smashing into the only rock formation that was still standing. When the dust settled it was clear that Leaf had fainted.

"Leafeon is unable to battle, Ash Ketchum wins."

Ash ran to Glaceon who collapsed in his arms, he praised her and returned her. Ash looked across and saw Alex doing the same to Leaf they both then walked to the centre of the ruined battlefield and shook hands.

"Great battle Alex."

"Thanks Ash, just remember me and Keldeo wanna fight Mewtwo after the tournament."

They walked down the tunnel to meet the other's outside, when they exited the stadium they saw everyone there and even Paul said it was a good battle. They spent some time talking about their battles and eventually decided to go their separate ways to relax. Ash saw Charizard and Butterfree fly after his mother and Ariana. Richie went to find Thomas and Arceus knows what Paul was doing as his vague response was that he had things to do. Alex wanted to go with Ash and Anabel so their Pokémon could chill out after the intense battle earlier.

* * *

When they got back to the clearing they released their Pokémon, Audio and Blissy got straight to work healing them. This time it was Espeon's turn to fuss over Glaceon who looked to be enjoying her mate's presence. Gardevoir was helping Audio and Blissy, they got to Flygon and Gardevoir saw the look Flygon was giving her and knew what she had to do, she floated over to her trainer and hoped he would react better than Flygon had.

"Ash."

He turned to her and saw the anxious look she had a couple of days ago was on her face again.

"Hey what's up? Are you still feeling unwell?"

He was getting very concerned about her.

"I have a confession."

Ash just nodded to signal her to continue.

"I lied about why I didn't want to battle."

Ash now had a hurt look on his face, she looked to the ground she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes.

"The truth is I'm pregnant."

* * *

Notes

Well Alex gave Ash the biggest challenge so far, will his next opponent be tougher?

How will Ash react to Gardevoir's announcement.

There will be no updates to this for a week or so, I just want to take a small break from writing.

Combo moves

Silver Vortex - Silver Wind + Gust

Psy Ice - Psybeam + Ice Beam

Hydro Beam - Hydro Pump + Aurora Beam

Hyper Pump - Hyper Beam + Hydro Pump

Signal Thrower - Signal Beam + Flamethrower

Thunder Pulse - Thunderbolt + Water Pulse

Wild Blitz - Wild Charge + Flare Blitz

Dark Impact - Dark Pulse + Giga Impact

Heat Hurricane - Heat Wave + Hurricane

Hyper Signal Thrower - Hyper Beam + Signal Beam + Flamethrower

Hyper Thunder Gems - Hyper Beam + Thunderbolt + Power Gem

Toxic Storm - Toxic + Leaf Storm

Solar Pulse - Solarbeam + Dragon Pulse

Elemental Dragon Combat - Dragon Claw + Flamethrower + Ice Beam

Iron Blade - Iron Tail + Leaf Blade

Flame Edge - Stone Edge + A fire move (Fire Punch, Flamethrower etc.)

Flare Impact - Flare Blitz + Giga Impact

Brave Impact - Brave Bird + Giga Impact

Quick Metal Slash - Quick Attack + Metal Claw + Slash

Iron Impact - Iron Head + Giga Impact

Elemental Meteor - Draco Meteor + Thunderbolt + Ice Beam

Hyper Breath - Hyper Beam + Dragonbreath

Frozen Shadows - Ice Beam + Shadow Ball

Leaf Charge - equivalent of Flare Blitz

Last Hope - Swift + Solarbeam + Quick Attack + Last Resort

Frost Impact - Frost Smash + Giga Impact


	23. Emotional times

Hi guys I'd like to apologise for not updating this for so long, I hit a mental block after the last chapter and it has taken a while to get past that. I started writing Ash's Journey through Hoenn and whenever I tried to think of some ideas for The Return of the Betrayed Guardian I wouldn't get anywhere.

I think I may have got carried away writing Ash's Journey through Hoenn which could have contributed to my lack of ideas for The Return of the Betrayed Guardian. Anyway I'm back now and this has my full attention.

Thanks for the reviews. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 22 hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

Everything went silent, all Ash's Pokémon had shocked looks on their faces apart from Flygon and Anabel's and Alex's Pokémon all looked happy for Gallade and Gardevoir. Anabel and Alex looked around at all the Pokémon wondering what could have caused them to act like this. Meowth saw the confusion on Anabel and Alex's faces and enlightened them.

"Gardevoir just admitted to Ash dat she was pregnant."

"Why is everyone acting this way?"

"Ash was going to use Gardevoir against Alex but she said dat she was feeling ill so Ash chose me instead."

Anabel and Alex then realised why everyone was reacting the way they were, Gardevoir had lied to Ash and given his past, lying was one of the worst things you could do to Ash. Everyone looked at Ash his face was blank, after what seemed like hours but was actually only minutes Ash looked at Gardevoir a variety of emotions present, although there was happiness for Gardevoir there was also pain.

"You, you lied to me."

Gardevoir still hadn't looked up, the pain in Ash's voice made her feel even more ashamed for her actions, she remained silent.

"Why? I don't understand why you would lie to me. Did you think I'd be disappointed in you?"

Gardevoir didn't know how to respond, that was the exact reason she hadn't told him and knew that confirming that would just be rubbing salt in the wounds she had caused by lying to him.

"Ash I'm... I'm sorry please forgive me."

Ash turned around and started walking away, Anabel went to follow until she felt a hand on her shoulder she looked and saw that it was Alex shaking her head.

"But Ash might need me."

"Trust me Anabel, when Ash is like this he needs to be alone."

Anabel watched Ash until he was out of sight, she heard Gardevoir burst into tears behind her, she turned around and saw Gallade trying to comfort her but it didn't seem to be having much effect. Gardevoir looked up at her teammates through tear filled eyes and saw several of them shaking their head at her and then turn away, she hadn't felt this kind of sorrow since her parents were killed before her eyes. Gallade led Gardevoir away towards Anabel's Pokémon who all tried to comfort her but despite their best efforts they were unable to do anything to help her. Blissy and Audio went back to healing the combatants from today.

* * *

Eventually Blissy and Audio finished healing the wounds Alex and Ash's Pokémon had sustained in their battle and now everyone was just relaxing however Ash's Pokémon were clearly worried about their trainer. Alex looked at the resting Pokémon and decided to leave them here while she tried to help the ones who had put so much trust in her.

"Anabel I'm going to take Keldeo and start doing some work with Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion, hopefully I'll be able to make a start on getting them back to their former selves."

Anabel just nodded in response, she was too worried about Ash to really think about anything else, she just hoped that nothing bad would happen while he was gone.

* * *

Ash was walking, he wasn't sure where he was going and right now he didn't really care, he just needed some time to think, he eventually ended up in the place he had stood around 10 years ago looking up at the flames of Moltres.

Meanwhile Alessandra had finally found an area she could use, it had taken a while as she had wanted to be in a secluded area so nobody could get hurt. She looked at the three Poke Balls that contained the Legendary Sacred Swordsmen. She hadn't let them out since she and Ash had saved them from Tobias, fearing what would have happened if she let them out when they were still out of control. Also during the Tournament she didn't have time to help them, but now after her battle with Ash, she knew now she could start to help them, she looked to Keldeo, who was just as determined to help them.

"Ok Keldeo I think it's time to start helping your mentors return to their former selves, wanna join me?"

"Yeah let's bring them back."

She threw the 3 poke balls which revealed them, she was not sure how they would react but her guess was that they would probably be hostile at first which made her think that it was a mistake leaving all her Pokémon back with Ash and Anabel's. Unfortunately she was proven right and the trio launched themselves at her and Keldeo.

Back in the main stadium Ash was still thinking in silence, he suddenly got a feeling that something was wrong.

"Mewtwo do you feel that?"

"Yes, I believe that Alex has sent out the Swordsmen and they are attacking her and Keldeo."

"Mewtwo please Teleport us to them now."

A split second later they materialised on the battlefield and saw Terrakion now looming over Alex who was defenceless, Terrakion then lifted a leg and kicked Alex sending her skidding along the ground, Keldeo looked over to his master and saw her in danger, he went to help her but was launched into a tree by the combined strength of Cobalion and Virizion slamming into him. Terrakion began walking slowly towards Alex and was about to leap at her when a blue orb collided with his face and sent him sprawling Ash then threw the one that was in his other hand at the prone Swordsman.

"Mewtwo lift Terrkion and throw him at Cobalion and Virizion."

Terrakion glowed blue and was lifted off the ground, he was then sent flying at the other Swordsmen who leapt out of the way and watched Terrakion slam into a boulder, they had fallen for that once, it would not happen again.

"Mewtwo help Keldeo finish them off."

Mewtwo nodded and alongside Keldeo took the fight to the trio, Ash ran to Alex's side and was relieved to find that there appeared to be no major external injuries but Ash would be surprised if she didn't have some broken ribs.

"Alex, Alex can you hear me?"

She was silent for a while, Ash's fear for her health growing by the second he then heard her croak out a word.

"Ash."

After that she passed out, Ash looked back and saw Mewtwo and Keldeo finishing off the trio, Ash picked up their poke balls and returned them. Keldeo and Mewtwo walked back to Ash who had picked Alex up off the ground.

"Mewtwo can you Teleport us back to the other's please."

Seconds later the trio appeared back in the clearing, Ash gently placed Alex on the ground and yelled.

"Blissy, Audio get over here Alex needs help."

The healers ran over to their unconscious trainer and quickly got to work, they were both concerned for her, Ash just hoped that Terrakion had not done to much damage. Anabel looked at Alex terrified for her, she had gotten close to her and like Ash she saw her as a sister, Ash saw the look on her face and pulled Anabel into a hug, she started sobbing as Ash tried to calm her. After a while the healers stopped, both looked exhausted but after all the work they'd done today it wasn't surprising. They stepped away from Alex both had relieved looks on their faces.

"So how is she."

"From what we can tell she has broken several ribs but has has no other major injuries, she was incredibly lucky."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, when Ash had Teleported here carrying Alex it had terrified them all. It was late now, everyone went to their own area to get some sleep, Ash, Anabel and Keldeo sat around Alex so they were there when she woke up. As it got into the early hours of the morning Anabel finally nodded off, Ash smiled looking at the peaceful look on her face and he once again thought about how lucky he was to be with her. He looked around the clearing until his eyes finally fell on Gardevoir and it brought a frown to his face, he was upset that she'd lied to him, but he was happy for her and Gallade, he wasn't sure how long it would take to completely trust her again, after what happened 6 years ago he was still reluctant to trust people and her actions have reinforced his beliefs.

* * *

Next morning, Ash woke up first and was surprised to see Alex trying to sit up.

"Whoa Alex, you need to rest up. Blissy and Audio said you've broken several ribs. What were you thinking doing that with just Keldeo there."

Ash could see the pain in her eyes and immediately regretted the way he'd spoken.

"I just thought they might have recognised me and Keldeo but I was wrong."

Ash saw that she had tears in her eyes, he placed an arm around her making sure he wouldn't hurt her and spoke more softly.

"Listen its early days, it will take months for them to be anywhere near normal again."

She nodded.

"I know, I'll be more careful in the future."

"Good, next time me and Mewtwo might not be able to get there in time and I will not be the one to tell Markus what happened as he would probably go into a rampage and I would be the first to suffer."

The sad look on her face vanished and she started laughing at the thought of her boyfriend going on a rampage. At the sound of her laughter Keldeo woke up and nuzzled his master's face ecstatic that she was awake, she giggled at the action.

"Keldeo that tickles stop it."

Keldeo ignored her and continued his actions, everyone else was woken up by Alex who was still laughing, they were glad to see her awake, Alex's Pokémon all surrounded her some had tears in their eyes and the rest were putting up a tough façade but it was obvious they felt the same.

Ash had called Richie to tell him what had happened and said that he would be later than usual so they should just get their schedules without him, but Richie adamantly refused to do so without Ash. After Blissy and Audio took another look at Alex and told Ash that she would be fine he decided to leave and get his schedule.

"I'm gonna go and see if my opponent for the next round has been chosen."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No you stay here with Alex I'm sure she'd like the company."

"Ok Ash, see you soon."

Ash hugged her and pressed his lips to hers, it didn't matter how many times they kissed it still brought a blush to their faces, they broke apart and Ash started walking in the direction of the Pokémon Centre.

* * *

As he was walking Ash began thinking about who was still in the tournament, he knew Richie, Paul, Thomas, Cynthia, Steven, Alder and Lance were still in but after that he was unsure. When the Pokémon Centre was in sight Ash spotted 3 figures, Richie was stood there with Paul and Thomas who Ash had seen little of since he'd helped get him and Ursula together.

"Hey guys."

"You know I'm starting to get really annoyed at you being late all the time."

"Paul you're annoyed all the time, anyway I had to stay with Alex to make sure she was okay."

Richie and Thomas laughed at the banter between the two of them but they quickly remembered the condition Alex was in and concerned looks were back on their faces.

"So how is she Ash? You sounded worried when you called me."

"She'll be fine just some broken ribs."

Ash saw relieved looks on all their faces even Paul's, although Paul only kept the look for a second before changing back to normal. Paul would never admit it but Ash knew that Paul did care about his friends he just had his own unique way of displaying it.

"That's a relief, anyway let's find out who we're battling in the next round."

They entered the Pokémon Centre and walked up to Nurse Joy, she handed them their schedules, they looked at them all of them looking pleased, Ash and Thomas smirked and looked at each other.

"Well Thomas it looks like we're gonna have that match you wanted."

"I can't wait."

* * *

Notes

Thomas vs. Ash will this be an even tougher challenge for Ash?

How long will it take for Ash to trust Gardevoir again?

And after the incident with Terrakion, Virizion and Cobalion what will happen to them?


	24. Ash vs Thomas another tough battle

Thanks for the reviews. Remember advice is welcome.

Here's chapter 23 hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

"Well I'll see you in a couple of days then."

"Ok Ash."

Ash and Thomas shook hands and left the Pokémon centre going off to train for their match. Richie looked at Paul who hadn't really seemed bothered about Thomas and Ash battling.

"Hey Paul you don't seem that interested in Ash and Thomas' battle."

"That's because I'm not, I've seen Thomas battle and I know for a fact that Alex is stronger than him. He will knock out three maybe four of Ash's Pokémon depending on who Ash uses so I don't see the point in caring about their battle."

With that Paul turned and left Richie alone in the Pokémon centre, he looked to Sparky who was sat on his shoulder.

"Well at least with Paul you know where you stand, anyway we best go prepare for our match, we're against a champion so we're gonna have to be at our best."

Raichu raised a fist into the air.

"Raichu Rai."

They both left the now empty Pokemon Centre to get ready for their battle.

Ash quickly started walking back towards the clearing, he met up with his mother and Ariana on the way who decided to come with him. Ash saw Charizard and Butterfree flying overhead once again grateful that they'd watched over his mother and Ariana. As the trio walked back to the clearing Ash told Ariana and his mother what had happened to Alex emphasizing to Ariana that she can't be too rough with her due to her broken ribs.

* * *

When they got back Ariana and Delia immediately went to Alex's side both of them gently hugged Alex making sure they wouldn't hurt her, Ash saw them conversing and decided that now was a good time to talk to Gardevoir. He saw that she was still among Anabel's Pokémon, his own were still staying away, Ash saw the look in her eyes and knew that she was truly sorry for her actions but he wasn't going to forgive her just like that. He walked over to her, Anabel's Pokémon parted so he could go right up to her, she averted Ash's gaze still unable to look him in the eyes.

"We need to talk."

She nodded and followed Ash who was walking to a more secluded area, after he was sure they were alone he turned and looked at Gardevoir who was still staring at the ground.

"Gardevoir, look at me."

She reluctantly lifted her head to meet his gaze, his face was blank making it impossible for her to know how he was feeling.

"Listen I am happy for you and Gallade."

Her eyes lit up and a small smile was on her face.

"But."

And just like that her face was downtrodden again.

"You lied to me and that hurt me deeply, I just want to know what I did to make you afraid to tell me the truth."

"You haven't done anything, I thought that you'd be disappointed in me because of it."

"Have I ever shown disappointment in anything you've done in the past? I would have been surprised at the news but I support you all the way. I'm only disappointed that you lied to me."

"I understand Ash and I really am sorry for what I did."

Ash decided to leave it at that, he wanted to get back to the other's and tell them that they were battling Thomas.

"Come on let's get back to the other's."

Gardevoir nodded and followed Ash, she was relieved at how well things had gone, she had prepared herself for a far worse conversation, she didn't know that Ash had not told her the part about him not fully trusting her now. They got back to the other's and Ash's Pokémon gathered around him.

"Ok everyone our opponent for next round is Thomas, so it's time to train."

Ash spent the next 2 days training, his mother and Ariana had decided to stay and be with Alex as she rested, Ash chose the team he thought would do best against Thomas' style of battling and got an early night so he would be focussed for the battle.

* * *

The next morning Ash and Thomas sat in their respective locker rooms having a final pep talk with their Pokémon, they heard their names called and walked into the jam packed stadium but were almost ignoring them keeping their focus solely on the upcoming battle. Ash looked up into the crowd and saw Anabel, Ariana, his mother and Alex, he guessed that they must have teleported her in, he had expected to see her in the crowd as he knew she was too stubborn to just rest up and recover while there was a battle going on.

"This battle is between Ash Ketchum and Thomas Ridgewall, this will be a full 6 vs.6 battle, when one person has lost three Pokémon there will be a short break while the battlefield is changed, substitutions are allowed. Thomas Ridgewall will choose his Pokémon first."

Both men looked at the battlefield, it was a labyrinth of rocks which would severely limit the manoeuverability of any Pokémon that couldn't fly. Neither of them were really bothered though, they both had Pokémon that could fly so it wouldn't have any effect on them.

"Beedrill lead us to victory."

Ash smirked, he was glad to know that he had been right in thinking that Thomas would lead with Beedrill in the hopes of putting some Toxic Spikes up to as he liked inflicting status ailments before going in for the kill.

"Scizor may the Aura guide you."

The bugs sized each other but Beedrill was quickly recalled, Thomas knew that Beedrill had no moves that would be able to do much damage to Scizor, Ash smirked again at how easily he had disrupted Thomas' opening gambit , now it would be interesting to see how he'd react.

"Marowak you're up."

Thomas' starter was now on the battlefield looking focussed, Ash had expected this to be his choice, if he was using the team Ash had identified as his best 6 he knew that Marowak was the only one who would be able to fight Scizor and have a good chance at winning without taking much damage, but Ash had no intention for Scizor to take any damage this early.

"Scizor use U-Turn."

Scizor quickly shot forward and hit Marowak who didn't even budge, but the goal had not been to cause damage, when the attack was complete Scizor returned to his poke ball.

"Sceptile may the Aura guide you

The lizard was revealed with his signature twig in his mouth, his eyes met Marowak's and they both smirked excited at the prospect of fighting a strong opponent. Sceptile was stood on one of the boulders looking and Marowak was stood surrounded by them, Thomas knew that with the battlefield in it's current state Marowak was at a major disadvantage so he'd just have to fix that.

"Start things off with Bonemerrang."

"Jump and use Bullet Seed."

Marowak threw his club which spun and was destroying the rock formations making the battlefield a lot more even with only the odd boulder here or there, as the bone flew towards Sceptile he leapt over it and started firing hundreds of seeds at Marowak who stood there and was taking it well. When the bone finished its arc it started going back towards Marowak but due to the distraction caused by Bullet Seed he missed the catch and it flew behind him and was jammed into the ground, he turned to look at his weapon and ran to get it.

"Energy Ball then Solarbeam."

Sceptile stopped firing the seeds and Marowak began pulling on the bone that was embedded in the ground, Sceptile created an orb of green energy that he swallowed which greatly increased his power, he then started charging a Solarbeam and fired it at Marowak who had not managed to pull the weapon free and was hit by the attack sending him crashing into the arena wall. The only positive being that he had gotten his weapon back.

"Bone Club."

"Leaf Blade."

Marowak and Sceptile charged forward, Sceptile's blades glowed green and Marowak got his club ready for combat, they met in the middle of the battlefield and began their duel, they were even in skill their weapons clashing in an incredible display of swordsmanship. It ended with Marowak ducking below an attack and using his club to trip Sceptile, as the lizard was on the ground Marowak raised his club and swung down thinking he'd do some significant damage but was surprised when Sceptile managed to raise a blade and block the attack, he then aimed his other blade at Marowak who jumped away and they both returned to their own side of the battlefield.

"Bonemerrang, then Elemental Punches."

"Dodge then use Leaf Blade."

Marowak again threw his club and as Sceptile dodged out of the way Marowak predicted his movement and started hitting Sceptile with a barrage of punches each one making Sceptile cry out, the lizard closed his eyes and focussed, his blade then glowed green and he hit Marowak with a Leaf Blade uppercut which stopped his attack and made him disengage and return to his side of the battlefield, both trainers saw the state of their Pokémon and knew they didn't have much left in them so they went for broke.

"Sceptile finish it with Toxic X-Blade."

Ash knew that this would sap the last of Sceptile's strength but if he pulled it off he'd take Marowak down with him.

"Marowak use Elemental Bone Club."

Sceptile blades glowed green and were outlined in purple ooze that dripped off and tainted the ground, at the same time Marowak had his right arm bathed in flames and his left was encased in ice, he then channeled the ice and flames into his Bone Club, the duo charged forward and using all of their strength they launched their attacks. Both attacks hit and knocked each other back, the audience looked at the combatants and saw that Sceptile and Marowak were panting heavily, Marowak was using his bone to keep himself upright and Sceptile's legs were wobbling, after a moment's silence Sceptile collapsed falling forward unconscious.

"Sceptile is unab..."

The referee was cut off by Marowak who lost his grip on his bone club and he fell forward and like Sceptile he was unconscious.

"Both Sceptile and Marowak are unable to battle, trainers choose your next Pokémon."

Ash and Thomas returned them proud of how they'd battled.

"Scizor may the Aura guide you."

"Hydreigon to the battlefield."

Ash wasn't sure whether or not to keep Scizor out as Hydreigon could have a fire attack like Drayda had in his battle with Alex, in the end he decided to risk it and stick with him.

"Hydreigon use Dragon Pulse."

"Use Flash Cannon to counter."

Hydreigon's heads fired a shockwave of Dragon energy, at the same time Scizor fired a beam of light, the attacks clashed and it let off a bright light that temporarily blinded everyone.

"X-Scissor then Bullet Punch."

"Fire Fang."

Scizor crossed his arms and flew straight at Hydreigon slamming into the dragon's gut knocking the wind out of him, Scizor then started pummeling Hydreigon with a barrage of swift punches. Hydreigon opened the mouths on his heads that are attached to his arms and they were on fire. Ash knew what would happen next.

"Scizor get out of there."

The bug tried to escape but was too slow and the dragons mouth snapped shut on Scizor's arms making the bug cry out in pain.

"Flamethrower."

Hydreigon then shot flames from all 3 of his mouths at Scizor who was unable to dodge as he was still being held in place, when the flames died down Hydreigon released his grip on Scizor, the bug was limp and was now plummeting to the ground, Thomas was prepared incase this was a ruse but saw that it was not when Scizor slammed into the battlefield. Looking triumphant Hydreigon flew back to the ground but was amazed to see Scizor struggle out of the crater he had made, Ash was about to recall him until he saw the look in Scizor's eyes and changed his mind.

"X-Iron Impact."

"Triple Flamethrower

Scizor crossed his arms and launched himself at Hydreigon who fired Flamethrower's from all 3 of it's heads at the bug. Scizor cut through the flames but it was obvious that the flames had done damage to him, Ash was just lucky that Scizor had not been burnt. He slammed into Hydreigon and sent him crashing to the ground, Scizor slowly lowered himself to the ground, after the combo he had just used Scizor was tired and fell to one knee, to Ash and Scizor's shock Hydreigon recovered quickly and was ready to battle again.

"Use Draco Meteor."

"Dodge them with Agility."

Several Meteor's crashed down to the ground, Scizor managed to get up and dodge some of them but due to the number of them and his tiredness he was struck by several and was knocked to the ground.

"Hyper Flame Pulse."

Ash knew that there was nothing he could do to save Scizor and could only watch as Hydreigon's three heads all charged an attack and fired them at Scizor who had struggle to his feet, the three attacks combined into one and slammed into Scizor leaving him unconscious in a massive crater.

"Scizor is unable to battle, choose your next Pokémon."

Ash cursed himself for leaving Scizor out, he should have known better especially after his close victory over Alex where he had made similar mistakes. He recalled Scizor apologising for letting him down again and took the next poke ball off his belt it was time to get serious and stop making amateur mistakes.

"Charizard may the Aura guide you."

Thomas quickly recalled Hydreigon knowing that in his current state he was no match for the Charizard that now stood on the field. Thomas was now the one cursing himself, he played right into Ash's hands from the very beginning by picking such an obvious team and this was now going to be a tough battle.

"Gardevoir take to the field."

The psychic type came out, the first thing people noticed was that she was a shiny Pokémon, where a regular Gardevoir had green hair and arms hers were blue.

Thomas was worried about Charizard, from what he had heard from Richie Charizard was Ash's most powerful Pokémon, so it was going to be extremely hard to take this monster down.

"Lift the rocks with psychic and throw them at Charizard then use Thunder Wave."

"Dodge the rocks and charge a Thunder Punch."

Ash knew this was risky but it was his only option right now so had to give it a go. Gardevoir lifted all the rocks off the battlefield and launched them at Charizard, she then shot some electricity at Charizard in the hope of paralyzing him. Charizard dodged the rocks with ease and his fists crackled with electricity, as the the Thunder Wave came towards him he stuck his hands out in front of him and the electricity went into his arms enhancing the Thunder Punch he had charged. Ash breathed a sigh of relief, if that hadn't worked it could have been a much tougher fight.

"Now Charizard hit her with Thunder Punch."

"Protect, then Thunderbolt."

Charizard flew towards Gardevoir as he got close to her he crashed into the barrier she created which caused him to disengage as he was momentarily dazed she then fired a bolt of electricity at him, the pain brought him back to reality.

"Iron Tail."

"Protect."

Charizard again flew at Gardevoir but this time just as he was about to hit the barrier he flew up, the barrier faded not long after and he continued his attack slamming his metallic tail into her and she was catapulted through the air. She hit the ground hard, everyone could see that she was looking tired, but she wasn't going to get any time to rest.

"Fire Punch."

"Energy Barrage."

Gardevoir managed to get up and she formed several orbs of energy and propelled them forward, but her exhaustion was catching up with her and several of the attacks missed or were easily deflected by the charging dragon, when Charizard got close to Gardevoir he threw his flaming fist forward and it connected sending her skidding along the ground and she slammed into one of the few boulders that remained on the battlefield

Thomas watched as Gardevoir struggled to her feet, he admired the determination she was showing and if she wasn't giving up then neither was he, if she was going to lose she'd do her best to do as much damage as possible.

"Hyper Beam."

"Blast Burn."

Gardevoir charged a powerful beam of energy and fired it at Charizard who countered it with a huge burst of flames which gradually pushed the Hyper Beam back until it completely overpowered it and left Gardevoir defenceless, she stood there unable to do anything except watch the flames approach her. When the flames hit they engulfed her and you could her scream out in pain. When the flames died down Thomas saw the condition Gardevoir was in, she was burnt and struggling to stand, he knew she had no chance of doing anything to Charizard now and that there was only one thing she could to help now.

"Gardevoir please forgive me."

She slowly turned her head and looked at her master knowing what he wanted her to do and with a sad smile on her face nodded.

"Healing Wish."

Thomas looked away, he hated doing this but he had to if he wanted to have a chance of taking down Charizard, Gardevoir raised her arms and glowed pink for a moment, then the light around her shot into the air and she collapsed.

"Gardevoir is unable to battle, send out your next Pokémon."

Thomas recalled Gardevoir and looked at her poke ball repeatedly apologising to her, he had never hated himself more than he did right now, he made a silent promise to do his best to make sure her sacrifice wasn't in vain, he looked up and pulled a poke ball back off his belt.

"Hydreigon, return to the battlefield."

The three headed dragon was again revealed, he was suddenly surrounded in the same glow Gardevoir had been and everyone could see his wounds vanish, when the glow extinguished Hydreigon looked as good as new.

"Dragon Pulse."

"Match it, then follow up with Dragon Claw."

Both Pokemon launched the shockwave f dragon energy at each other, but the attacks just cancelled each other out, Hydreigon then saw Charizard flying straight at him and tried to dodge but was still clipped by the attack making the dragon wince.

"Aqua Tail."

"Iron Tail."

Hydreigon flew at Charizard, his tail surrounded by water and flipped aiming his tail at Charizard's head but was instead met by a metallic tail, the pair looked even and neither were giving an inch.

"Brick Brake then Iron Tail."

"Hydreigon get out of there."

Hydreigon tried to withdraw but found that Charizard had wrapped his tail around his making him unable to get away from the fist that slammed into his abdomen, the attack winded him and while he recovered from that he had no chance of dodging the metallic tail that was slammed down on his back and sent him flying into the ground. Hydreigon got back into the air and glared at Charizard.

"Dark Dragon Rush."

"Flare Rush."

Hydreigon and Charizard both prepared a Dragon Rush, then Hydreigon was surrounded in dark energy and Charizard was engulfed in flames. The dragons charged at each other and collided in mid air, the collision sent them both flying back but Hydreigon looked in worse shape, Thomas was unsure what to do, this wasn't going to plan and if he didn't do something quick this would be over.

"Draco Meteor."

This didn't really worry Ash, he knew that Charizard was more than capable of dodging them.

"Dodge them."

"Toxic."

As the meteors came crashing down to earth Charizard was easily dodging them however he wasn't paying attention to Hydreigon who opened his 3 mouths and fired poisoned sludge at Charizard. The liquid hit Charizard and poisoned him making him cough up some purple ooze. Ash had underestimated Thomas and was now paying the price, he looked at Hydreigon who looked exhausted, if Ash could finish this quickly he will have knocked out 3 of Thomas' Pokémon and could get Charizard out of there.

"Flare Impact."

Charizard was surrounded in flames and set his sights on the dragon, Thomas had no time to counter as Charizard shot across the battlefield and slammed into Hydreigon making the dragon fall to the ground struggling to get air bourne again.

"Finish it Charizard."

Charizard knew what that meant and grabbed Hydreigon and flew high into the sky and when he'd reached the altitude he deemed suffecient he threw Hydreigon back down to Earth, he crashed into one of the craters he had made earlier with Draco Meteor, Charizard glided down to the ground and stood proud over Hydreigon who was unconscious.

"Hydeigon is unable to battle, since one trainer has lost three Pokémon there will be a fifteen minute break."

* * *

Both Ash and Thomas returned the dragons and turned around going back down the tunnels to their locker rooms.

In the locker rooms both trainers were not particularly happy, Ash knew he had thrown away Scizor when he left him out to battle Hydreigon. Thomas on the other hand was thinking about how he can pull this back and he was still ashamed at what he had done to Gardevoir. The fifteen minutes went by slowly but eventually they both walked back down the tunnels on the battlefield which was just a flat grassland now.

"The battlefield has been changed, Ash chooses his Pokémon first."

"Lucario may the Aura guide you."

"Drifblim come on out."

Thomas looked at Ash and could tell he was surprised at the choice, showing that Ash hadn't planned for this.

"Will-O-Wisp."

"Shield with Bone Club."

Everyone looked confused at the order Ash had given, they watched as Drifblim formed several orbs of blue flames and fired them at Lucario who had made a staff out of Aura, as the flames approached he began spinning his staff and when the flames hit they were deflected away leaving Lucario unaffected by the attack.

"Lucario use Foresight."

Thomas was annoyed that Will-O-Wisp had been countered and with Lucario using Foresight Drifblim had lost his biggest advantage against Lucario.

"Acrobatics."

"Catch him then Dark Pulse."

Drifblim flew towards Lucario, the jackal extended his arms and was pushed back but he managed to stop him, Lucario then grabbed ahold of 2 of the rudder like limbs that extended from Drifblim's body. Lucario then released a wave of dark energy at Drifblim who was unable to dodge it, Drifblim seem to go limp in his hands but he wasn't taking chances and slammed him into the ground, jumping away afterwards. Drifblim got back up off the ground air but was struggling to stay in the air.

"Rapid fire Shadow Ball then use Will-O-Wisp again."

"Thunder Punch the Shadow Balls and Aura Shield to block the flames."

Drifblim created several orbs of black energy and fired them at Lucario he then formed some orbs of blue flames and shot them at Lucario who's fists were crackling with electricity, he hit the black orbs back at Drifblim both electrical and ghost energy now hitting Drifblim. A shield made of Aura then appeared in front of Lucario and blocked the flames. After the attacks were finished Drifblim was down, it didn't seem like he would be getting back into the air any time soon but he was still conscious and able to battle. Ash admired the determination Thomas' Pokémon were showing but he was finding it tiresome.

"Dark Elemental Combat."

Lucario's left fist was encased in ice, his right was surrounded in dark energy and his left leg was engulfed in flames, he then charged straight at Drifblim. Thomas looked at Drifblim, if he was going down he'd take Lucario with him, it is a cheap move but at this point he needed to use anything he can to stay in this match.

"Destiny Bond."

Ash's eyes widened and he tried to stop Lucario's attack, but he had already thrown hist fist at Drifblim and as soon as Lucario launched the first punch it knocked Drifblim out and then Lucario collapsed alongside him.

"Drifblim and Lucario are unable to battle, choose your next Pokémon."

Thomas looked at his 2 remaining Pokémon and knew that this battle would be incredibly hard to win, but he wasn't giving up.

"Beedrill come back to the field."

"Blastoise may the Aura guide you."

Ash wasn't exactly happy at Thomas' last move but he knew that in his place he'd have done the same thing but he was still pissed about doing that to Lucario.

"Beedrill Twineedle"

"Grab his stingers."

Beedrill charged at Blastoise and tried to stab him with the stingers on its arms, however Blastoise was ready and dodged the attempts, he then grabbed on to his stingers which was a bad idea as Beedrill then sent a Toxic down to his stingers which poisoned Blastoise. The effects of the poison almost made Blastoise lose his grip on Beedrill but he just managed to keep him trapped.

"Hydro Pump."

Blastoise aimed his cannons at Beedrill who was struggling to get free but to no avail and could nothing as the jets of water were shot at him point blank.

"Giga Drain."

Beedrill drained some energy from Blastoise as he did that the poison kicked in again making him release Beedrill's stingers and allow him to get away.

"Charge back in with X-Scissor."

"Iron Defence then Iron Aqua Tail."

Beedrill flew at Blastoise with his arms crossed, Blastoise withdrew into his shell which took a metallic sheen. Beedrill slammed straight into Blastoise's shell and cried out in pain, Blastoise came back out with his now metallic tail which was also surrounded with water and slammed it straight into Beedrill who was sent crashing back to the ground near Thomas.

After the last 2 attempts at fighting up close, Thomas knew that he couldn't fight up close so he would have to just fight at range, the problem is that Beedrill isn't really suited for ranged combat but he had no other choice.

"Venoshock."

"Ice Spin."

Beedrill fired poisoned sludge at Blastoise who withdrew into his shell and began spinning sending blasts of ice in every direction which froze the poison and hit Beedrill freezing his wing which made him fall to the ground.

"Ice Punch, then Skull Bash."

Beedrill was trying to get back up but the Ice Beam had frozen part of his wing and as he tried to break the ice off he hadn't been paying attention to Blastoise who had charged across the battlefield and use Ice Punch to send him soaring into the Air. Blastoise then lowered his lead and prepared a Skull Bash, he watched the trajectory of Beedrill and shot off predicting where the bug would land. His prediction was right and his head slammed into Beedrill which sent him crashing into the arena wall. He pulled himself out of the wall and used one of his stingers to keep upright.

"Finish him with Hyper Cannon."

Blastoise charged his 2 most powerful attacks and fired them combining the high pressure jets of water and the powerful beam of energy at Beedrill who was still feeling recovering from the last barrage of attacks, he looked up and saw the attack headed his way and then everything went black.

"Beedrill is unable to battle, choose your last Pokémon."

Ash returned Blastoise, he wanted another one of his Pokémon to battle today.

"Crobat it's up to you."

"Typhlosion may the Aura guide you."

Thomas knew that he wouldn't win now but he'd do his best to take down as many Pokémon as he could.

"Crobat use Toxic."

"Counter Shield."

Crobat fired some poisoned sludge at Typhlosion who was spinning on his back shooting a Flamethrower into the air which created a pillar of fire, the poison hit the flames and were nullified. Thomas gritted his teeth, he now saw why people got so frustrated when Ash did that.

"Cover the battlefield with poison."

"Damn, use Flamethrower knock her out of the sky."

Crobat started flying across the battlefield firing poisoned sludge at the ground which tainted it and some of the grass rotted from the poison. Typhlosion kept firing bursts of flames at Crobat, but her speed and agility made it difficult to hit her, he eventually managed to hit her with the attack but it was far too late, the battlefield was now covered in poison which he was now in contact with and it inevitably poisoned him. He glowed purple as the poison took effect and started sapping his strength, Ash knew he had to act fast or Crobat would take down Typhlosion easily.

"Flamethrower."

"Cut through it with Air Slash."

Ash smirked, he was hoping he'd do that instead of telling her to dodge.

"Swift and Wild Charge then finish it with Flare Blitz."

Typhlosion shot a stream of fire at Crobat who began firing blades of wind at the flames which parted the flames revealing Typhlosion who was surrounded in electricity and jumping from star to star. Crobat had no chance to avoid the attack and cried out when Typhlosion slammed into her, she started falling to the ground but managed to get her senses back before slamming into the ground, she looked up and saw Typhlosion descending straight at her, he was surrounded in flames and was gathering speed, when he got close she strafed out of the way and Typhlosion couldn't stop himself from slamming into the ground, he pulled himself out of the ground and was on his knees while he tried to recover. Ash looked at him and didn't know if Typhlosion could win this now in his current state but considering the poison damage he'd taken Ash was proud of how well he'd done. Typhlosion's recovery time was cut short as Thomas launched the next attack.

"Brave Impact."

"Flare Impact."

Crobat tucked her wings in and flew at a blistering pace at Typhlosion who had become engulfed in flames and was charging at Crobat, when the attacks clashed both sides were even, but suddenly poison took effect and it caused Typhlosion to lose his concentration, this gave Crobat the chance to overpower him and sent him flying into the arena wall unconscious, however she looked to take some bad recoil damage.

"Typhlosion is unable to battle, choose your next Pokémon."

Ash returned Typhlosion, he looked at Crobat and it clear for all to see that she was as good as done.

"Charizard let's finish this."

"Elemental Combat."

Thomas never had the chance to call out an attack, it had all happened so quickly, it took seconds for Charizard's right fist to be crackling with electricity and his left to be engulfed in flames, he then shot off, flying straight at Crobat and started pummeling her with punches and kicks. She tried to fight back but she was too weak from her fight with Typhlosion and after a few brutal moments she was knocked out .

"Crobat is unable to battle, Ash Ketchum wins."

They returned their Pokémon and walked to the centre of the battlefield.

"It was good to finally battle you Ash."

"You too Thomas, I hope we battle again in the future."

"Yeah and next time I'll even the score."

They both laughed and shook hands, Thomas then froze, Ash looked at where Thomas was looking and saw a girl, Ash looked back at Thomas confused.

"She's one of my crazy fans, I've got to get outta here."

Ash laughed at his friend.

"Well I'll see you later."

Thomas nodded and quickly made his escape, Ash saw the crazed fan get up and leave. Ash laughed as he thought of him running from his fans, he then thought of what would happen if they met Ursula and hoped for their sake that they would never meet. Ash turned, walked off the battlefield and down the tunnel, he exited the stadium and saw his loved ones waiting for him.

* * *

Notes

Next chapter Ash will find out who his quarter final opponent will be.

Combo moves

Elemental Punches - Fire Punch + Ice Punch

Toxic X-Blade - Toxic + X-Scissor + Leaf Blade

Elemental Bone Club - Bone Club + Ice Punch + Fire Punch

X-Iron Impact - X-Scissor + Iron Head + Giga Impact

Hyper Flame Pulse - Hyper Beam + Flamethrower + Dragon Pulse

Energy Barrage - Shadow Ball + Energy Ball + Focus Blast

Dark Dragon Rush - Dark Pulse + Dragon Rush

Flare Rush - Flare Blitz + Dragon Rush

Flare Impact - Flare Blitz + Giga Impact

Dark Elemental Combat - Dark Pulse + Blaze Kick + Ice Punch + Close Combat

Ice Spin - Ice Beam + Rapid Spin

Hyper Cannon - Hyper Beam + Hydro Cannon

Brave Impact - Brave Bird + Giga Impact


	25. Fangirls - A fate worse than death

Thanks for the reviews. Remember advice is welcome.

Hey guys sorry for the long wait but The Return of the Betrayed Guardian is back. I just needed a break away from it but now I am ready to finish this story

Here's chapter 24 hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

* * *

Ash walked to his loved ones who all had smiles on their faces, Ariana wrapped her arms around Ash who returned the gesture.

"That battle was so cool Ash."

"Thanks Ariana."

"Yeah Ash it was an impressive match although wasn't it risky to use two relatively new Pokémon."

Ash broke the hug and placed his hand on Alex's shoulder as he didn't want to hurt her.

"I will admit it was a risk but I wanted to battle with those two again and this was the last chance I'd get before the end of the tournament."

Ash then felt a familiar pair of arms circle around his waist, he turned and gently brushed his lips against Anabel's and looked straight into her lavender eyes.

"That was an incredible win Ash."

"Thanks but it was a tough match, Thomas is a good opponent."

At the mention of his name Anabel then remembered Thomas leaving the stadium in quite a hurry after their battle.

"Hey Ash we saw Thomas run off after your match, where has he gone?"

"He saw one of his fangirls in the crowd and ran away, I just hope Thomas can get away from them before Ursula finds out."

"Finds out what."

Ash turned around and saw Ursula who looked incredibly pissed off which made Ash audibly gulp as when she was enraged Ursula was one of the few things in the world that legitimately terrified him.

"N-n-nothing."

Ursula took a step forward her chilling glare sent shivers down Ash's spine and he took a step back in fear.

"Which way did they go."

Ash quickly pointed east.

"T-t-that way."

"When I find them I will rip that girls pretty face off, she'll be sorry she ever went near him."

She shot off sprinting as fast as she could. Ash quickly took his Pokenav out and called Thomas so he could at least warn his friend about an enraged Ursula, Thomas picked up and sounded quite agitated.

"Ash this really isn't a good time."

"Hey Thomas I know you're in a bit of a bind right now but I have some bad news Ursula is now headed your way to and I quote 'rip that girls pretty face off' and trust me when I say she might rip something of yours off as well and you would not want that happening."

Ash could hear him panting and his reply was filled with terror.

"T-t-thanks for the w-w-warning, oh shit they found me again I gotta go."

Thomas hung up and Ash placed his Pokenav back into his pocket.

"Man I wouldn't wanna be in Thomas' shoes right now, let's go to the Pokémon centre and get todays combatants healed."

Ash turned to see his loved ones all standing, apart from Alex who was on Keldeo's back, they all had their arms crossed and looked straight at Ash. He'd known them long enough to know what they wanted him to do, Ash shook his head.

"No."

"Ash."

He knew when his mother used that tone she did not want to be argued with. He turned his attention to Ariana but she was mimicking his mother so he knew she wouldn't support him.

"Aw come on."

He looked to Alex hoping she'd support him.

"Ash go and help him."

Finally he looked at Anabel, surely she wouldn't force him to do this.

"Please, don't make me get involved in Thomas' problem."

"Ash go right now and help Thomas."

As much as he wanted to he couldn't go against Anabel.

"Fine I'll go."

They all smiled happy that they had gotten Ash to agree so easily, Ash quickly handed his poke balls to Anabel.

"Get them healed and I'll see you back at the clearing. Flygon I need your help"

The dragon flew down and Ash got on his back.

"OK head east."

Flygon nodded and shot off leaving the other's bemused, Ariana asked the question they were all wondering.

"What was Flygon doing up there?"

They all shrugged their shoulders and began the journey to the Pokémon Centre.

* * *

"I can't belive they are making me do this, actually now that I think about it I can believe it. Thomas better appreciate this."

As they flew Ash looked down and saw a crowd of people chasing a lone figure, Ash had Flygon descend slightly and on closer inspection could see that it was Thomas.

"Holy crap how many fan girls does Thomas have?"

They both watched the crowd gradually catching him, Thomas then turned and ran into a building. He obviously locked it as they were now bashing on the door, Ash and Flygon looked around the building and could see there were no other exits. Suddenly the door on the roof opened and Thomas ran out closing and locking it behind him.

"Flygon land on the roof."

The dragon glided down and landed next to Thomas who was now sat on the ground panting, Ash got off of Flygon and sat next to Thomas.

"Ash *pant* boy am I *pant* glad to see you."

"Well let's get out of here."

Thomas nodded and they both got on Flygon who took off, all of them were relieved to be rid of the fangirls. Suddenly an attack hit Flygon nearly knocking Ash and Thomas off, they looked back and saw that they were being chased by several of his fangirls.

"What the hell is wrong with them, they are truly insane there is no other explanation for their ludicrous behaviour."

"Sorry Ash this usually doesn't happen."

"Why has it happened this time then?!"

"I usually have my Gardevoir Teleport me away."

Ash growled at the irony of it all, he knew they could use Mewtwo to Teleport away but he didn't want to reveal him unless it was absolutely necessary. Ash ducked as another attack narrowly missed his head, Ash was now throughly pissed off and turned glaring at Thomas.

"You know what Thomas you owe me, do you hear me you fucking owe me!"

"Okay Ash I hear you loud and clear."

As Flygon kept dodging the attacks being fired their way Ash was trying to think of anything to help them right now but then something else came to mind.

"Considering they want to do Arceus knows what with you, doesn't it seem dumb that they are attacking us?"

"Ash right now we have bigger concerns than what their motives are."

As he was about to respond Ash saw a thick forest and got an idea.

"I've got it, Flygon see that forest down there fly into that and we'll try to lose them in the trees."

Both Flygon and Thomas looked at Ash both wondering if he was actually being serious. Ash knew how he could get Flygon to do this.

"Hey you always want to prove your are as good in the air as Charizard so here's your chance, but if you don't think you can do it then don't worry we'll think of something else."

The rivalry between Flygon and Charizard always managed to fire them up, but Flygon was forcing himself not to fall for the same trick this time so Ash had to up the ante, he then gently patted him and spoke in the most patronising voice he could.

"It's okay if you can't do it you don't have to be ashamed about it."

That tore it, Flygon shot straight down headed for the trees, Thomas wasn't exactly enjoying himself, Ash on the other hand was feeling incredibly smug that his plan had worked. Flygon was easily dodging around trees determined to prove himself, Ash looked back and saw several of the Pokémon crash into trees knocking them out until only a couple of them remained. They looked ahead and saw a cliff face, Flygon kept going towards it until the last second when he swerved unfortunately for the fan girls their Pokémon couldn't do the same and slammed into the cliff. Ash, Thomas and Flygon looked at the unconscious Pokémon and breathed a sigh of relief, Flygon then flew off back towards the clearing.

* * *

At the clearing the others were sat chatting while they waited for Ash and Thomas to get here when suddenly the ground next to them shook as Flygon landed, everyone immediately got up and went over to see how they were. As they got a closer look at the pair Thomas looked relieved and Ash looked pissed.

"Thanks again for saving me from those fangirls Ash."

"Those weren't fangirls they were maniacs."

Thomas was about to reply but Ariana cut him off.

"Hey guys how are you?"

Both Ash and Thomas pointed to each other.

"Ask him."

"Oh hell no, I just saved your ass the least you can do is tell the story of how I've had one of the worst times of my life."

Thomas sighed and sat down, Ariana, Alex, Delia and Anabel did the same. As Thomas started spinning the tale Ash saw Paul and Richie out the corner of his eye and looked at them confused, he walked to them leaving Thomas and the others.

"Hey what are you guys here?"

"Well we met up with the others at the Pokémon Centre and decided to come here to tell you your opponent next round. So Ash you wanna here who we've got next round."

"Sure but I'm surprised that they've already released the next round opponents? I mean isn't it a bit soon considering the matches will have only just finished?"

"Well as there are so few still left they do the draw immediately after the matches are over."

"Fair enough, so Paul who have you got."

"Cynthia, I finally get a chance to beat her."

"Nice what about you Richie?"

Ash turned to Richie and saw him smirking.

"Well lets just say it's time for our rematch."

A smile broke out on Ash's face.

"I can't wait."

* * *

Notes

Next chapter Ash vs Richie who will Ash use to combat the person who beat him 10 years ago in the same stadium.

I put quite a lot of Thomas in this chapter, but I looked back and saw that I have neglected him a bit compared to Alex and Ariana.

Yeah I know this is a short chapter but at least I have finally updated this story.

Like I said before guys I'm sorry for the long wait, I aim to have The Return of the Betrayed Guardian finished this year but updates will be slow compared to my other story so no promises yet.


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